


Comma,

by Vanlesbian



Series: "Quotation Marks" Series [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hurricane Katrina, Liam out here fucking up the timeline, M/M, Not Beta Read, Smut, Time Travel, zayn being jealous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:06:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanlesbian/pseuds/Vanlesbian
Summary: The year is 2060 (4 years before "Quotation Marks") and Liam and Zayn are sent back to 2005 by TARC to get footage of Hurricane Katrina. Find out what Liam is hiding in the future and what drove him and Zayn apart.Fast forward back to 2065 and watch the court case between TARC and the time-travelers unfold. Will time-travel finally be outlawed or were all their efforts for nothing?
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Series: "Quotation Marks" Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163177
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so like I said in the first book I am still working on writing the second book and am about halfway through with it. The first part of the book is done though and if you haven't read the first book can kind of be read as a stand-alone. I would highly recommend reading the first book though so you can understand the full picture. As always thank you for reading and let me know what you think. I'm hoping some encouragement will help me write the rest of this book faster!

_2060_

Liam glanced at Zayn from across the room as they were being fitted for their latest missions’ outfits. They were to pose as the Red Cross when the flooding got bad enough after Hurricane Katrina hit. This mission had required a week’s worth of briefing and training the people at the lab ensured were for safety precautions. He was only nineteen, barely legal, and had never ventured outside of the Midwest aside from time traveling. Even then him and Zayn being the babies of the group got sent on “lower-risk missions”. Something Liam and Zayn still wondered if that had been the doing of the lab or their parents.

Liam glanced to Zayn again this time catching Zayn’s eye. Liam smiled while Zayn smirked and winked before swiftly turning around and pretending it never happened. He felt butterflies dance around in his stomach and the breakfast he had eaten turn. He took a deep breath to calm himself, the last thing he needed was to get sick right now, especially in front of practically the whole lab. He was ushered to change out of his protective flooding gear and change back into his normal 2005 outfit, while Declan finished packing a backpack with emergency supplies.

He took the clothes and made his way across the lab floor towards the locker rooms. Zayn was just getting done with his fitting too and being ushered to go change. Liam slowed his steps to see if Zayn would try to catch up with him or if he was still playing hard to get. He decided he didn’t care and pushed through the doors of the locker room heading straight for a changing stall. He closed the door behind him into the small dimly lit space and glanced down to the clothes in his hand with mild curiosity.

At first dressing, the part of the mission had been his favorite part. He loved dressing in different decades clothes and living a different life for a few days. Lately, he’d cared less about the clothes and more about the adventures Zayn and he got to experience together. The different people they would become for a split second in the past before it was back to their regular selves in the present.

At first, Liam didn’t really have a distinction between the two. He would let himself be the same in the past and present until he started noticing Zayn acting completely different. In the present, he was his best friend, aside from a co-worker. He was the first person he’d call to hang out and grab a beer. He was the person he’d grown close enough to in the past year to confide his secrets in and go to for advice. Zayn was only two years older, yet Liam looked up to him as if he knew all the answers to the universe when deep down, he knew Zayn was as clueless as him.

However, in the past when they were on a mission Zayn began acting like his lover. It was subtle at first. Flirty remarks and winks here and there and boundaries of personal space getting pushed and blurred as time went on. This went on for a month, where Liam was slightly confused but also starting to develop a crush on his best friend. He had never even considered himself to be attracted to males prior to Zayn. He had always dated females and never really felt the same way about men until Zayn came in and made him question everything.

Eventually, one night on a mission in the 1990s Zayn had bought them a bottle of vodka from the gas station next to their hotel. They had made their own mixture of cocktails and drank until their heads were fuzzy and their limbs felt heavy as they began jokingly wrestling in the room. Liam doesn’t even remember what started the wrestling, probably one of them claiming they were stronger than the other. Liam’s an inch taller than Zayn at 5’10 but they are both on the skinny muscular side since they work out together, so it could have been anyone’s win. They jumped and moved sloppily around the room waiting for one to pounce on the other one.

He doesn’t remember who moved first, but then suddenly they were rolling around wrestling on the bed fighting to pin the other one down. Liam rolled Zayn over and straddled his waist as he grabbed his wrists and pinned them above his head. They both stayed still for a moment breathing heavily trying to catch their breath. Liam remembers the room spinning from all the alcohol, his vision switching from bleary to clear off and on. Liam looked down and Zayn keeping their heads and chests as far apart as he could in this position. He was ignoring the arousal that ran through him in choosing to just enjoy the moment for what it was.

Even with alcohol coursing through his veins he knew he would never have the guts to make the first move, the thought of losing his best friend haunted him. In that moment though he no longer had those thoughts as Zayn arched his back up as his wrists were still pinned down and caught Liam's lips in a quick but heated kiss. From there it was all rough kissing, lip biting, and teeth bumping together as Liam took the lead and they got together for the first time that night.

Liam snapped out of the memory willing his sudden arousal to go down as he heard the locker door swing open and closed and the sound of someone walking around. He quickly turned back to the clothes given to him and threw them on. It was nothing special just some dark jeans that were skinny in the legs and became loose around the calves, a tight black Vans shirt, and some black converse. He wondered what other outfits Declan had packed for him in Zayn in their suitcase since this mission was nearly a week long.

This would be their longest mission yet, and the longest the two of them would spend together working by themselves. The thought made Liam giddy with happiness but also anxious at the prospect.

Liam heard someone cough as he stepped out of the changing booth clutching his other clothes in his hand. He stood in front of one of the wall-length mirrors observing his new outfit. His brown hair laid flat on his head, a few of the longer strands splaying over his forehead. He ran his fingers through his hair trying to comb it out a little better. Declan said he should spike his hair up the first day of the mission, he claimed it would look cool and he’d fit right in. He took the small jar of gel from his other pants pocket that Declan had handed him with the clothes and took a little on his fingers running it through his hair. He’d never spiked his hair up before though now looking at himself in the mirror he wasn’t sure why. He liked the new look on himself.

He heard a whistle behind him and turned around to see Zayn coming out of one of the changing booths. Liam tried not to stare at the way the red and black striped shirt clung to the curves of Zayn’s body. He was wearing black loose fit skinny jeans and gray and white vans that completed the outfit.

“That hair looks good on you,” Zayn said walking to stand next to Liam in the mirror, checking himself out.

“Yeah guess your hairs too long to really do anything different with it.”

Zayn subconsciously wiggled his lip ring between his lips as he concentrated on ruffling his hair to give it a messy look. His brown hair was wavy and went down to his shoulders. Zayn refused to cut it which made dressing the part for certain missions harder than others. For this one, Declan said they’d fit in perfectly with the “scene crowd” whatever that meant.

“Yep, but hey at least this time I probably won’t get mistaken for a girl.” Zayn laughed as he turned towards Liam. For a brief second, they locked eyes and he wondered if Zayn might actually kiss him outside of a mission, but the moment was quickly broken when Zayn was patting him on the back and stepping away.

“Better hurry up pretty boy, you know how the lab gets when we get off their schedule” He turned out of sight down a row of lockers before Liam could hear the door swing open and close leaving Liam alone to his thoughts once again.

He gave himself one more quick look in the mirror before heading towards the exit himself, dumping his clothes in his locker on the way out. Before Zayn, he never really gave a second glance at himself in the mirror or paid too much attention to his appearance. Now every time for a mission or he and Zayn hung out, he would spend a few minutes in front of a mirror staring at his reflection and analyzing his appearance.

When he opened the locker room door leading back into the open main space of the lab, he saw the chaos all around that was always a guarantee on travel days. Even after a year of traveling once a month to bi-weekly the commotion and routine never changed. His mom came down the first couple of times to watch and wish him good luck, but soon after she stopped in favor of staying in her sanction of the building to work on her many projects. His dad though was required to be at every traveling just like Zayn’s. Both their dads were in charge of running different tests and inspections on the time machine and the gear to make sure it was all working properly and safely.

If it wasn’t for Liam’s parents and Zayn’s dad working in the lab, they wouldn’t even know each other, and they definitely wouldn’t have had a guaranteed adult job right out of high school. His parents were still making him go to college, he assumed in the hopes of him following the path of science or engineering. However, he had no idea what he wanted to study yet. He was already looking forward to time traveling for as long as he physically could. He took general education classes at the local community college to appease his parents, but he knew he only had another year before he really had to make up his mind.

“You ready son?” His dad yelled from his right. He spun around in that direction glancing at his father standing next to the time machine writing something down on a clipboard. Zayn was bouncing around the opposite side of the lab speaking with his dad as they looked over a monitor hanging on the wall.

“Yeah, I’m ready, just another day living the dream.” Liam laughed.

“Alright, smartass don’t get cocky. This is a serious job, the minute you let it get to your head you could slip up and there’s no good that comes from messing up the timeline.” Wyatt Graham lectured glancing between his son and back at his clipboard.

“I’ve been doing this for a year and nothings went too bad yet, I think this mission will go just as smooth as all the others.”

“Liam, this is a week-long mission in a major hurricane. This is different than just casually getting footage of a sporting event, many people died from Hurricane Katrina.” Wyatt gave his son a concerned glance. He looked like he was going to say more but Liam beat him to it.

“I’ll be fine pops try not to miss me in the 7 minutes I’m gone.” Liam went up and hugged his father briefly before stepping back and turning to go find Declan.

“Five minutes till launch” The automated voice blared from the speakers.

He approached Declan standing at the rear of the time machine loading their suitcase and backpacks into the trunk of the time machine.

“Oh, good I need to go over all your supplies really quick with you guys before launch. Zayn to the time machine please!” He yelled the last part across the room. Zayn turned his head and walked swiftly over. Liam was impressed Zayn had actually heard him over all the noises of the lab, though Declan had a booming voice that could cut through a crowd.

“You called?” Zayn asked coming to stand next to Liam, leaving a foot of space in-between them. The appropriate friend amount Liam bitterly thought.

“Alright, guys your suitcases are packed with 10 different outfits, 2 sets of pajamas, plenty of socks and underwear, and all the toiletries you’ll need. In the glove box, it has the map of the city, address and information of the hotel you’ll be staying in, and of course two thousand dollars cash to cover the hotel and food. Now you’ll each get a red backpack here, these have emergency food, water, blankets, small inflatable rafts, and grappling hooks just in case you find yourself in a bad situation.” Declan explained pulling out the said items from one of the backpacks he held in his hand.

Zayn and Liam both nodded in understanding as they had to keep shuffling out of the way of more people doing last minute things before launch.

“I know they went over all this stuff with you guys the past week, but seriously guys this is going to be a lot more dangerous than your other missions. You need to use a lot of caution and you’re going to see a lot of disturbing things but remember to stick with the training. Listen I know you’re going to want to save the people you see getting washed away and stuff but please don’t. Saving one person could kill another or completely alter the timeline for better or worse.”

“Two minutes to launch”

“Alright that’s my spiel, have a good mission,” Declan said closing the trunk and clapping both on the shoulders before moving to go stand by the section of monitors.

“Liam and Zayn please take your place in the time machine.” Someone yelled out.

Zayn turned and walked his way to the driver’s side as Liam moved to the passenger’s side. They both opened their doors and plopped into their seats.

“You ready?” Zayn said looking over at him.

“Always, are you?”

“Always.”

“One minute till launch”

Their doors are closed, and more people have cleared out of the way to go take their places behind monitors to observe levels of things Liam never understood. They had briefly touched on it in training, but Liam hadn’t deemed it important enough to remember.

The ten-second countdown began overhead as Zayn started the engine of the time machine. Liam could hear the soft purr of the car come to life and the excitement in his stomach intensified like it always did right before they left for a mission. Everyone else cleared out of the way leaving a clear strip to drive on in front of them.

“Launch ready” the automated voice spoke, and Zayn shifted into drive and began accelerating the time machine forward, the lab vanishing around them in an instant.


	2. Chapter 2

They both shifted in their seats unbuckling their seatbelts and getting comfortable for the fifty-five-minute ride. Zayn drove for a minute before switching autopilot on and leaning back in his seat. Liam turned and raised an eyebrow to him. Normally Zayn drove for at least five minutes to ensure everything was fine before switching to autopilot.

“Don’t feel like driving today?” Liam asked jokingly.

“Nope, feel like doing something else instead,” Zayn said swinging his legs over the seat to straddle Liam’s lap.

“Oh,” Liam mumbled before his lips were caught in a hungry kiss from Zayn. He grabbed Zayn’s hips digging his fingers into the skin. He swirled his tongue on Zayn’s lip-licking his lip ring and then into his mouth eliciting a moan to erupt from Zayn. Liam pulled back and Zayn took this as a sign to kiss his neck. “Hey, wait…wait just a sec.”

Zayn pulled back looking confused as they both breathed heavily.

“What wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong there’s just something I’ve been meaning to ask you before we get into this.” Liam gestured between the two of them. Zayn nodded encouraging him to continue. “I…uh…I wanted to see if we could finally be official. You know like be boyfriends and do stuff outside of just missions.” He stumbled nervously over his words biting his lip when he had finished and watched the looks that crossed over Zayn’s face.

Zayn slowly pulled back from Liam till he was crawling back over to the driver’s seat away from him. Liam tried to school his face from completely falling, keeping it neutral.

“Liam…look I didn’t mean for you to take this the wrong way. I thought you understood we were just having fun here. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything; it was just supposed to be something to pass the time while we're on these missions and be good for both of us.”

“What? This was just a friend with benefits thing this whole time?” Liam asked. He hoped Zayn couldn’t pick up on the shakiness in his voice.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it meant anything to you,” Zayn said quietly.

“All this time and you didn’t feel a thing? All these months and it was just to get off?” Liam’s voice began to rise, a mixture of anger and sadness stirring and bubbling up in his stomach.

“No…look I’m not gay, I’ve actually been seeing this girl and I think I’m going to ask her to be my girlfriend. I was going to tell you this was going to probably be our last time fooling around. I just wanted us to be able to enjoy our last few times this week together.” Zayn pouted.

Liam didn’t know if he wanted to kiss or punch the pout off his face. His emotions were overdrive and his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. “I’m pansexual. Getting crush and having feelings for you made me realize that I didn’t care as much about someone's looks, I cared about the actual person. God…you’re my best friend Zayn and I fell for you like an idiot. I was never going to tell you till that one night you initiated things, that’s when I thought you had felt the same way, and maybe I wasn’t an idiot. I guess I was wrong.”

He wished he were anywhere else but this time machine right now. Especially not hurdling towards the past and far away from his bedroom where he could lock himself up and hide for the next couple of decades.

Zayn reached over and took Liam’s hand in his. “I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t know we felt differently about this, and I’m happy you told me your pansexual and I truly don’t mind, but you have to understand I’m straight.”

“Then why the hell did you kiss me in the first place?” Liam yelled yanking his hand away from Zayn.

“I don’t know? Curiosity, I guess. I mean we were both single and it was just some harmless fun to get off. Look can we please get past this, I don’t want my best friend mad at me and I don’t want our whole mission ruined.” Zayn looked back over to Liam scooting closer into his personal space. “It can still be our last time. Our one last goodbye to each other all week before we go back to the present.”

For a brief second Liam was just tempted to give in. If he could have Zayn at all that was still something, but he knew in the end it would just leave him feeling hollower and more broken than he already did. As the silence stretch, Zayn leaned closer and Liam snapped out of his contemplation.

“No…no I can’t. Not if it doesn’t mean anything to you. I don’t want that.”

Zayn leaned back into his own seat nodding his head in understanding. He reclined back and looked up at the ceiling as they both sat in uncomfortable silence.

“Sorry” Zayn mumbled

“Why didn’t you ever mention a girl to me before? I mean if we're best friends isn’t that something I should know?” Liam spoke quietly.

“You don’t need to know shit if I don’t want to talk about it, Liam. Yeah, you’re my best friend and I’ve told you a lot of personal stuff but that doesn’t mean you need to know every aspect of my life.” Zayn raised his voice and sat up in his seat puffing his chest out a little bit. Making Liam Seethe.

“No, I think you didn’t tell me because you were being a selfish prick and knew the minute you told me then I’d stop sleeping with you. Well, guess-fucking-what? You were right” Liam spat. They were both turned in their seats towards each other, with their eyes glaring daggers at the other.

“I thought we were on the same page here! Contrary to what you think I wasn’t actually trying to hurt you, and this wasn’t some game.”

“Oh, I know, you were just using me for sex, and you thought that if it didn’t happen in the present then that wouldn’t make you any less than straight when we weren’t in a different time. Sorry to break it to you but time travel doesn’t work that way. You’re still the same piece of shit you were before and after your journey.” Liam sat back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest. He was done with the conversation and just ready to be done with this mission.

“Whatever believe what you want. I’m done with this conversation.” Zayn touched one of the screens on the time machine and loud music began blaring through the speakers. Normally Liam would bitch about the volume being too loud but at that moment he welcomed it. He could feel the bass thumping making his heart beat faster.

He turned and looked out the window at the swirls of color that flew past the gray horizon. Time travel was a beautiful thing that most people would never get to see, and here he was not appreciating its beauty. It was hard to concentrate though with the thumping from the speakers and the overall racing of his brain. He felt a headache coming on and he leaned his head against the cool window hoping to soothe it away. They sat listening to Zayn’s obnoxious music for most of the journey until Liam finally had enough and turned it down. According to one of the monitors they were only five minutes out away and he needed to at least break the awkward tension between him and Zayn or this mission would be a nightmare.

Zayn huffed in annoyance when his music was turned down low but didn’t say anything.

“So, are you ready to live through a hurricane?” Liam wanted to take back his words after hearing how dumb they sounded but they were already out.

Zayn gave him a confused look before hesitantly answering. “Yeah, I suppose. I mean we have been training for this”

“Well yeah but training and real life are two completely different things. We learned that on our first mission.”

Zayn cracked a smile at the mention of their first mission, which wasn’t a disaster but they’ve both agreed could have gone better. The moment Zayn smiled Liam internally calmed a little. He knew things would be awkward for a while, but they could probably get past this.

The monitors began beeping to alert them they were almost there, and Zayn switched back to driving manually. Liam looked again as the colors became more vibrant and intense the closer, they got closer. The colors swirled around a bright light and then suddenly all the colors were gone and replaced with the colors of other cars and houses and buildings lineup along the coast.


	3. Chapter 3

_2005_

They drove down the coastal road watching as people went about their day. He glanced over at the ocean and the red flags that waved in the air. Liam observed as swimmers and boats still bobbed around in the water like it was just a normal day. Liam supposed to them it was. They arrived a day before true concern and panic would rip through the city of New Orleans, until then they were to observe “the calm before the storm”.

“Do you know where our hotel is?” Liam asked casually.

“No, you’re supposed to be the one directing me.” Zayn shot back.

Liam opened the glove compartment, of their once fancy time machine that was now a Toyota Corolla and pulled out the highlighted map. He slammed the door to the glove compartment to show his frustration. Declan feared the GPS’s at this time weren’t reliable and that an old-fashioned map was the safest bet. From all their missions they had both gotten better at reading maps and having a sense of direction. He spread the map out in front of him and found the dot that indicated where they had arrived then followed it to the street they were passing.

“Looks like we should have made a right a few streets back but I’m sure if we turn up here, we can loop back around.”

“No, I’m turning around. I don’t want to get lost or spend a bunch of extra time lying around, I just want to get to the hotel.”

“Alright fine then turn around, you’re the one driving do what you want. Hell, drive us into the ocean for all I care.” Liam fired back. He honestly didn’t care if they were submerged underwater, he already felt like he was drowning anyways.

“Yeah because drowning before the hurricane comes is exactly why we traveled back in time.”

Liam just shrugged and looked out the window as Zayn turned into a gas station and turned around. He glanced back at the map to estimate how much longer they were stuck in a car together. “It’s going to be the fourth left from here.”

“Got it”

“Ok”

The next fifteen minutes became a game for Liam to see how well he could direct Zayn using the least amount of words possible. He was convinced Zayn was playing a similar game of how short of acknowledgments to the directions he could give. By the end, Zayn’s game turned into just nods of his head and no words as they drove down a street lined with hotels and condominiums. He pulled into the hotel parking lot and they both exhaled sighs of relief when the engine was quietly turned off. Liam hopped out of the car first already heading to the trunk to retrieve his things. Zayn opened the trunk and came around to join him, each grabbing their bags.

Liam immediately frowned as they began moving to the main entrance and he felt the humid air surround him. His tight shirt already began to cling to his skin and he hated every minute of it. When they walked inside the hotel lobby, he was relieved to feel the cool air conditioning blowing out of the vents. They made their way to the front desk and Liam took the lead.

“Hi, we have a room booked under Graham. Is there any way we could get a second room too?”

Zayn whipped his head to face Liam in shock. He tried not to focus on the hurt he saw flash through Zayn’s eyes and directed his attention back to the receptionist.

“We do have an open room, but it's two floors above the other one sir.”

“That’s perfect I’ll take it.” Liam pulled out some of the money from his backpack and paid for both of the rooms, getting their keycards in exchange.

The walk to the elevators was silently accepted for the loud rolling of their suitcases as they were dragged behind them. The silence wasn’t broken till they were both on the elevator up alone.

“I get it, we need some space and you probably want to be alone right now. If you change your mind though you know where to find me.” The elevator dinged and opened its doors. Zayn quickly took his stuff and walked out of the elevator leaving Liam finally alone to his thoughts.

***

A few hours had passed of Liam sulking in his room and throwing himself a pity party. He imagined Zayn might be doing the same thing just with loud music, then he would get mad at himself for thinking about Zayn at all. His mind was having its own pity party parade of thoughts and he was apparently the conductor.

It was just now dinner time and he knew he would eventually have to participate in human interaction sometime in the near future in order to satisfy his stomach. A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts and he groaned into a pillow before getting up to answer it. Zayn stood on the other side, now wearing a backward baseball hat. Liam assumed it was to keep his hair from rising from the humidity and consuming his face.

“Hey…you hungry? I was going to go wander around and grab something. I just wanted to see if you wanted to join?” Zayn said quietly. Liam wanted to say no and slam the door in his face but then he remembered that he was technically working, and he wasn’t being very professional. So, he swallowed his pride and agreed to Zayn’s proposition.

They walked down the busy streets of the city taking in all the various sights, smells, and sounds. It was loud and colorful and had more character and charm than the future city of Chicago that Liam and Zayn were used to. They both looked around in awe taking in everything.

“Wanna stop in for some pizza?” Zayn asked gesturing to an old-looking pizzeria on the corner of the block. They had a running inside joke since their first mission that they would try the pizza every time they time traveled back. Sometimes it was harder to find than others, but it always led to a fun adventure, especially when they had time to kill.

“Wow starting with pizza already, and we didn’t even have to look very hard.”

“Hey, when the opportunity presents itself take it.”

Liam inwardly cringed at how flirty their conversations were without them meaning to be. It was just the norm for them, especially when on missions and he never took the time to look too far into it until now. Now he noticed every word that came out of Zayn’s mouth and every movement his body made. It’s like he was going mad and his body was on fire and he just wanted the hurricane to come already and put the fire out.

They walked into the pizzeria that was not very crowded for a Saturday night. It was a dimly lit hole in the wall type place with green booths that lined both sides of the narrow walls. The pizza ended up being satisfying to them both, but they agreed not the best they have had. The dinner conversation was light and mainly ceased once they could both used eating as an excuse not to talk.

They exited back out into the dark humid night where the wind started to pick up blowing the palm tree leaves around viscously. They continued walking away from their hotel down the streets just to explore. As they turned down a street, Liam saw a streak of color out of the corner of his eye down an alleyway.

“Did you see that?” He asked Zayn.

“See what?”

“There’s something in the alley there. I think it might be an animal.”

“Oh god please leave it alone, it’s probably just a skunk or a raccoon eating out of the garbage.”

Liam chose to ignore Zayn as he slowly crept into the alleyway, not wanting to frighten the animal that hid behind a dumpster. Liam had a soft spot for animals like his sister, Louis, even though their parents never let them have anything more than goldfish growing up. He slowly approached the side of the dumpster and peeked his head around the corner to find a skinny orange and white tabby cat digging through some spilled trash. He crouched down in hopes of not scaring it and quietly called it over. The cat immediately came running up to him rubbing against his legs and purring.

“Awww you’re a nice little one.” He spoke quietly to the cat as he rubbed its ears and down its back.

“Alright what have you found this time?” Zayn appeared standing behind Liam.

“It’s a sweet little cat.”

“Dreamscicle…” A young woman called softly as she appeared in the alleyway carrying a bowl of cat food.

“Is this your cat?” Zayn asked the women who walked towards them.

“Technically no, It’s a stray. I just feed it every day.” The women who couldn’t be much older than him replied back. She pushed her long black curls behind her ears away from her face as the wind blew them around.

"Why don’t you just adopt it?” Liam questioned finally standing back up, as the cat continued to rub against his legs.

“I wish I could, but I live in the apartments above the drug store here and I’m not allowed to have pets. My landlord lives across the hall, so I’d never be able to sneak him in.” She walked past Zayn and Liam and up to the cat putting down its bowl of food that it immediately ran to. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to him if this storm ends up hitting us.”

For a brief second Liam forgot of the impending hurricane that was upon them, and how he and Zayn were the only two at the moment who knew how severe and problematic it was going to be.

“Poor little guy,” Liam said as he looked back at the cat chowing down on the food. He looked back at the woman noticing her beauty for the first time. “I’m Liam and this is Zayn.”

Zayn gave him a funny look but didn’t say anything as the woman introduced herself as Shea.

“It was nice meeting you both but I gotta get back upstairs, have a good night.”

“You too,” Liam replied with a little wave. Shea disappeared out of the alleyway around the corner leaving Liam and Zayn awkwardly standing there watching Dreamscicle eat.

“We should be getting back too,” Zayn said breaking the silence.

They made their way back to the hotel by the time the sun was setting and casting a beautiful orange glow over the city. They both made their way back to their separate rooms, something Liam felt like he might regret doing later on in the week. For now, though the much-needed space between them was welcomed. Liam decided to crawl into the big hotel bed and flip through the channels of the shitty box tv that took up the whole top of the wooden dresser. He knew tomorrow was the day mandatory evacuations started, and Zayn and he were to get footage of the people and the city preparing.

Usually, he’d be cuddled up next to Zayn right now, their body heats mixing together keeping them warm through the night. Now he was left alone in the dark quiet room, in a new city, fifty-five years in the past, and suddenly he liked his job a lot less. He wished he could have just gone on missions alone like before when he was first starting out. Zayn had offered to show him the ropes though and the rest was history. Now if only he could stop history from repeating itself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going, to be honest with you, I haven't been reading the chapters for this book over before posting them as I did for the first one so I'm sorry if there are errors or discrepancies.

Liam woke up to an almost completely dark room, except for the sliver of light that peeked through the crack where the blackout curtains met. He groaned and rolled over to his side glancing at the digital red numbers of the clock telling him it was a little past eight. He wondered if Zayn was up and if he was if he would come down to get him or if he was waiting for Liam to go up to him. Getting two rooms was probably a bad idea. Also, Declan not getting them cellphones to communicate was not a great idea, but there was nothing he could do about that now.

He extended his arm and grabbed the remote on the bedside table, switching the tv on to the local news. The mandatory evacuation had officially gone into order and people were already clogging up the interstates trying to drive upstate. Airports were becoming packed with people trying to catch flights out, and of course, then there were the people that refused to or couldn’t afford to leave. Liam thought it was a little ironic that while everyone is supposed to be leaving he and Zayn have just arrived and are right where they’re supposed to be. People who are still alive now will probably look at this footage in the future and think how foolish they were, but it’s all part of the job. For this week their job was basically storm chasers, or more or less getting chased by the storm.

He got out of bed and stretched, listening as his bones creaked and popped. He quickly rinsed off in the shower and threw on an outfit that had been packed for him in his suitcase. Zayn had yet to come to find him, so he decided to go to Zayn instead.

Liam got on the elevator descending down to Zayn’s floor. The hotel seemed quieter overall than the day before. People probably saw the news and decided to get the hell out, or so he hoped. He walked down the hallway glancing at the numbers next to each door before he saw Zayn’s and lightly knocked on the door. Liam stood there in the hallway waiting for a minute with no answer and knocked again. Soon after the second knock, the door swung open to reveal a dripping wet Zayn in only a towel hung low on his hips.

At that moment Liam forgot how to form words and stood in the hallway with his mouth hung open. Zayn didn’t speak either he just stared back at Liam, both of them not breaking eye contact until Zayn made the first move. He grabbed Liam by the shirt and pulled him into the room slamming the door behind them and pushing Liam up against the door. Neither moved for a minute just breathing in each other’s scents before Liam moved his head slightly forward and Zayn closed the gap between them. Zayn put his arms on either side of Liam’s head letting his towel fall to the floor. Liam glanced down and was flooded with arousal at the site.

They both missed breakfast in favor of other activities. The moment they finished and could think clearly again Liam immediately regretted it. He knew nothing had changed between them and this was a moment of weakness he shouldn’t have fallen into. It was a time travel routine they didn’t know how to break and neither of them really wanted to, even though Liam felt his heart constrict every time he glanced at Zayn. He was weak, and he just wanted to be free of his inconvenient and unwanted feelings.

Zayn acted like everything was back to normal when they were all dressed and leaving the hotel to actually get footage. Liam had on the glasses today, and he decided for the time being to just pretend everything was back to normal. He knew this mission would go a lot more smoothly if they didn’t have personal drama to deal with on top of a hurricane that could drown them.

When they walked out of the hotel they immediately noticed the shift in the atmosphere since the night before. There was less traffic on the roads and windows were being boarded up with wood. They passed by a grocery store that was filled with people stocking up on food and supplies. They walked the same way they had the night before passing by the pizzeria they had eaten dinner at. When they came to the alley that they found Dreamscicle in, Liam immediately found himself turning down it.

“Oh, please tell me you’re not looking for the cat!” Zayn yelled from the entryway of the alleyway.

“Dude we can’t just leave it here! By tomorrow it’ll get washed away.” Liam spotted the cat coming out from behind some trash cans further down the alley and went to scoop it up. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it, but he knew he had to at least try to save it.

“There’s nowhere for us to go with it and how the hell are we going to feed it or anything? We have no supplies and stores are closing.”

“Zayn, chill he’s already living on the street as it is eating scrapes. We’ll get by for the next couple of days until it’s safe to let him back outside again.

“Are you taking him?” A female voice said from behind Zayn. He shifted around to reveal Shea from yesterday.

“Oh, hey you’re still here,” Liam said without really giving it much thought. He just figured within the next couple hours the city would be a ghost town.

“Yeah and so are you. I’m not leaving, I can’t afford the gas to drive out and my family lives in Wisconsin, it would be way too expensive to fly there.”

“What? No, you should really go they’re saying this storm’s going to be really bad.” Liam said petting the purring cat in his arms. Zayn cleared his throat next to him and glared at him.

“I would if I could, but it’s not possible for me so I’m going to ride it out. What about you guys? Are you staying and are you taking Dreamscicle?” Shea said moving closer towards both of them, crossing her arms.

“Uh…We have to stay because we’re journalists and we have to report on the storm.” Zayn quickly answered before Liam got a chance too.

“I’m going to sneak Dreamscicle into our hotel with us, so he’ll be safe.”

“Liam!” Zayn scolded but didn’t voice anymore. Liam knew he would get his way and Zayn would end up caving.

“Oh, thank god! I was calling everyone I knew to see if they could take him, but they were all leaving or couldn’t. Thank you.” She directed towards Liam, making eye contact with him and giving him a shy smile. Liam returned it and felt his cheeks redden a little bit. She was adorable, and maybe under different circumstances he could get to know Shea better at least for the remainder of their stay but the odds were not in their favor.

“It’s really no problem.” He flashed her a smile and moved closer. “Say goodbye Dreamscicle.” Shea moved closer to scratch the cat’s ears and he continued to constantly purr.

“Well we really need to be getting back but take care and stay safe,” Zayn said coming over and gently tugging on Liam's forearm to get him to move. Liam shot him a glare but slowly followed.

“Yeah, Shea please be careful, stock up and then stay put till the storm moves out, and don’t worry about his guy he’ll be safe.” He said moving out of the alleyway with Zayn. He heard Shea call bye behind him and he peered down at the cat in his arms and secured him better hugging him to his chest. When he readjusted Dreamscicle Zayn finally dropped his hand from Liam's forearm and he tried not to dwell on it.

“I hope you know what you’re doing with this cat situation here,” Zayn said as they got closer to the hotel.

“I’m not going to lie; my first idea was to sneak him in under a coat or jacket but then I remembered I’m not wearing one.”

“You idiot!” Zayn said lightly, gently thumping Liam on the back of the head.

“Hey, at least I’m a sexy idiot,” Liam said swaying his hips and bumping into Zayn.

“Yeah that girl back there sure thought so, thought she was going to start petting you when she was done with the cat.”

“And what would be wrong with that?” Liam shot back, watching as Zayn’s playful smile began to shift to uncomfortable.

“Nothing just gotta be careful with the timeline and all. Oh, and you can’t tell people they should leave if they plan on staying, we can’t meddle with the course of people’s lives.”

“Uh-huh…well lucky for you we probably won’t be seeing Shea again and after today it’ll be too late to evacuate so then it’s just a matter of riding out this storm and getting out of here in one piece.”

“Yeah but guess what dumbass? You still haven’t explained how you’re going to sneak in and take care of this cat during this storm and what we’re going to do with it after the mission. And so, help me if you suggest bringing it back with us, I’m stealing your room key and leaving you out in the storm.” Zayn threatened. Liam knew it was an empty threat, but he knew if he didn’t figure out the cat situation Zayn would be on him complaining the rest of this mission.

“I’m not bringing him back with us. I’m just trying to give the guy a place to stay while there’s a fucking hurricane destroying the city. Saving one cat is not going to destroy the timeline.” Liam said as they approached their hotel.

“Stop, we can’t just walk in there with you holding a cat, we’re going to get kicked out.”

“Wait, I have an idea. I’ll stay here and you go to the convenience store on the corner and buy a towel or a bag or something. As long as he’s not in plain sight we’ll hurry through the lobby and back up to my room.” Liam suggested as Dreamscicle started to climb up his arm.

“Fine, stay right here I’ll be right back,” Zayn said turning in the opposite direction and walking down the nearly deserted sidewalk.

Only a few minutes later he was returning holding something in a plastic bag that Liam couldn’t see.

“What did you find?” Liam asked as he approached.

“Get ready for this, I think this suit you well.” He said pulling out a medium-size black fabric tote that says “New Orleans is My Favorite City” in bright neon block letters.

“Oh, gee how did you know this would match my outfit I had planned for tomorrow,” Liam said sarcastically trying to hold back a laugh. He took the tote from Zayn and stuck Dreamscicle inside to which the cat meowed in protest. “Shhh…. buddy, you gotta be quiet for a few minutes, and then you’ll be out of this bag.”

“Alright let’s hurry up and get this over with.” Zayn said opening one of the big main doors to the hotel.”

They assessed the lobby finding two people behind the main desk and a few visitors milling around. Liam quickly put the tote on his shoulders, and they made a dash for the elevators on the far wall. He quickly pushed the up button a few times making it light up. The doors to one of the elevators and they immediately got on and closed the doors before anyone else could join them. They both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh crap!” Liam exclaimed startling Zayn who was leaning against one of the walls as the elevator made its way up.

“What? Is he trying to escape?”

“No, I should have had you get cat supplies while at the store. Damnit. I’ll just have to go once we get him all settled in.”

“Sometimes I wonder about you, Liam,” Zayn said fondly shaking his head. The elevator dinged and the doors opened to Liam's floor with both of them stepping out. They walked quickly down to Liam's room and got inside without any mishaps.

Liam quickly slid the tote off his shoulder and onto his bed where he opened it to find a disgruntled cat climbing out. Dreamscicle scanned the room and then hopped off the bed to sniff around the room.

“Can you stay here and just watch him for a few minutes while I run down to the convenience store and buy some litter and cat food, please,” Liam asked, his eyes never leaving Dreamscicle as he walked around the room.

“Fine, but make it quick, and if he makes any messes your cleaning it up,” Zayn stated plopping down on Liam’s bed and flipping on the tv. “Damn I hate these old remotes.”

Liam rolled his eyes at him then walked towards the door waving goodbye. He went back the way they had just come down the elevator and through the lobby back onto the sidewalk. He walked down towards the store Zayn had gone to a short while ago that he found busier than we would have thought when he arrived. People were stockpiling on items they would need if they were staying. 

He made his way to the isle marked pet supplies and quickly scanned the shelf for what he would need. He grabbed a litter box, a small container of litter, a bag of dry food, and a few toys he thought would keep Dreamscicle entertained in case Zayn and he needed to leave him alone for a few hours. He juggled carrying all these things in his arms as he had decided to forgo a basket, which he was now regretting.

He turned down the main aisle heading towards the checkout when he saw Shea down one of the isles putting items in a shopping basket. Making a detour he headed down the aisle she was in not really knowing what he was doing but acting on auto-pilot.

“Hey, long time no see.” He said casually as he readjusted the things in his arms as he felt them start to slip.

“Ah, it’s my cat savior. Buying things for the little guy I see.” She said eyeing the things in his arms.

“Yeah well I’ve never had a cat, but I’ve been told they do require food to live and I’m sure his own bathroom would be good too.” He said joking around.

“True, true. That does tend to be how it works.” She said glancing back to the shelf she was in front of.

“So, what are you here shopping for? Stocking up for the hurricane?” Liam asked not wanting the conversation to end so soon. He was captivated by the mystery behind the blue eyes and thick black curls.

“Yep, stocking up on food, meds, and other little things. I came here because the grocery stores are already bare shelves and chaos. After this, I have to fight with the people at the hardware store to get some planks to board up my apartment's windows in case the wind breaks the glass.”

“Do you need help? You're probably not going to be able to carry all these groceries and wood back to your apartment by yourself.” He knew he shouldn’t have offered, he needed to get back to Zayn and Dreamscicle as soon as possible, but a part of him felt bad for the girl tyring to brace this storm all on her own.

“Are you sure? Won’t your friend miss you if you're gone for a while?”

“He’ll be fine, he laid down to watch tv when I left which means he probably passed out now and won’t wake up for at least a few hours.”

“Okay but what about the stuff for Dreamsicle? You don’t want him using your floor as a litter box.” Shea said eyeing up the things in Liam's arms again.

“Okay fair point, why don’t I pay for this stuff and drop it off at our hotel and then I can meet you back here and help you for a little bit.” Liam reasoned readjusting the things in his arms again.

“Why are you being so nice to me? Usually, people are every person for themselves.”

“Because people are supposed to help each other in a crisis and I’m pretty sure the big storm brewing off the coast is considered a crisis.”

“Wow for a minute I thought you were getting sappy on me.” Shea laughed moving farther down the aisle to pick up some more things. “Okay I’ll finish up my shopping, you go take that stuff to Dreamscicle and meet me out front of this store when you’re done.”

“Yes ma’am.” He said smiling as he turned back towards the checkout. “I won’t be late.” He called behind him before turning out of sight from Shea and getting in line at the register.

The line went by quickly and soon he was walking back down the street towards the hotel. He was hoping and praying Zayn was asleep, so he wasn’t confronted by him. Not that Liam thought it was any of his business. If what Zayn and he were doing was just messing around then he had no right to object to him hanging out with Shea, mission be damned. He wasn’t going to play games. If Zayn wanted to fuck then they’d fuck, but he didn’t get to be jealous.

The elevator doors opened, and Liam carried the heavy bags in his hands down the hallway to his room. He set the bags on the ground as he fished his room key out of his pocket. He slid it in the slot and pulled it out quickly before slowly turning the handle on the door. He creaked the door open peeking into the room to find Zayn passed out on Liam's bed with a sitcom playing on the TV in the background. When Dreamscicle saw Liam at the door he meowed and came running over to him from across the room.

“Shhh….” Liam said to the cat as he set the bags down on the dresser and knelt down to pet the cat who was now rubbing against his legs. “Hang on boy we’ll get you all set up and then I have to step out again just for a little bit. You have to be good while I’m gone.” 

He went over to the bags and started pulling out everything he had bought. He took the small litter box and pour the container of litter in it before setting it in the corner of the room by the windows, next to the lamp that dimly lit the room. He then pulled out the bag of cat food and poured some on a napkin Liam found lying around. He made a note to pick up some paper plates or bowls while he was out with Shea. Lastly, he took out the toys he had gotten for Dreamscicle and quietly scattered them on the floor around the room for him to play with. The cat ran over to the food and began to chow down as Liam remembered he would need some water. He took one of the complementary paper cups from the bathroom and filled it up with cold water hoping he would be able to drink some of the water out of it before Liam came back with a better solution.

“Okay boy please be good. I’ll be back soon.” Liam whispered to the cat scratching behind his ears as he ate. Liam crept back towards the door, glancing back at Zayn still sleeping peacefully before opening the door slowly and slipping out in one swift motion.

He let out a silent sigh of relief the minute the door closed, and he quickly made his way back to the elevator just in case Zayn had woken up from the door shutting. Liam made his way again back to the convenience store as quickly as he could. When he got closer to the store, he saw Shea leaning against the wall on her flip phone, while she held her bags in the other hand.

“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” Liam said coming up to lean against the wall next to her.

“Oh no, I just got finished checking out just a few minutes ago so that was good timing.” She said slipping her phone back into her pockets and smiling up at him. “Okay allow me to lead the way. The hardware store is only a few blocks away.” Liam nodded and Shea began leading the way with Liam walking next to her.

True to her word, the hardware store was only a few blocks down and over from where they had been. Many people were coming in and out of the store. The people coming out were carrying handfuls of wood planks with them to board up their homes and stores. Liam let Shea lead the way through the store since she seemed to know where she was going. She stopped to get a box of nails before continuing to the lumber aisle.

“Wow they’re really picked over,” Liam commented as Shea picked up the number of boards she needed.

“Oh yeah, a lot of people have nowhere else to go or can’t leave so they ride it out and hope they're still here when it’s over.”

“I hope you’re still here when it’s over.” Liam thought until he realized he had said it out loud. His brain to mouth filter apparently had been shut off.

“I hope you are too,” Shea responded shyly before turning away and walking towards the checkout. It took Liam a moment to recover before he was hurrying after her.

“Here let me help you carry something; you’ve got your arms full.” He said reaching out to take the bags from the convenience store she had been carrying around.

“Oh, thanks that’s actually a big help, I think I was starting to lose circulation in my wrist.” She laughed as they got a spot in the long line to checkout.

“What! You should have said something sooner. Or shit I should have. I wish you wouldn’t have just silently suffered while I was walking around empty-handed this whole time!”

“Oh stop, I’ve gotten used to doing things on my own. This is nothing new to me.

“Well for today you’re not alone so you’ll have to make exceptions.”

They waited for ages in the long line before finally checking out and carrying the supplies back towards Shea’s apartment. The walk was short and peaceful as they continued to make small talk and share little things about their selves and their daily lives. Of course, Liam had to leave out the time travel part, but he tried to be honest in every other aspect he could.

“So, this might be a stupid question but are we putting these boards on the inside or outside of your building because I don’t think these nails are going to go through brick,” Liam said assessing the old run-down brick building in front of them.

“Of course, on the inside! I live on the second floor we would have to get a ladder if we were going to board it up on the outside and then yes there’s the problem of the building being made of bricks.”

Liam raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’ve never had to do this before and hope I don’t have to again. I’m just trying to learn things here.”

He followed her up the steps of the building to her door and into her small apartment. It wasn’t big, the kitchen, dining, and living room were all one space while there was a door to a bedroom on one wall and a door to a bathroom on the other. For one person it looked like the perfect size.

“Oh, you could have totally snuck Dreamscicle in here. He would have loved it!” He exclaimed as he set the bags from the store on the small island. Shea put the nails on the table next to the bag and propped the boards against the door. Thankfully Liam could only see one good-sized window letting in natural light in the living room.

“Yes, but if I brought him in then I’d never have him leave and if my landlord found out I’d be kicked out. Taking him would have led to a horrible chain of events.”

“Alright drama queen let's hurry up and get these boards up. I gotta get back to Zayn before he wakes up, but I want to make sure everything’s good and secure.”

They walked over to the window by the couch. Liam could see the overcast sky turning a dark blue as if the storm was just on the edge of being here.

“Okay you nail in one side and then I’ll do the other. Then we just have to do the window and my bedroom, and you’ll be free to go.” She said handing him the hammer and a few nails.

He hammered the boards into the wall and gave her the hammer back so she could do the same. When they were done, they backed away and the board stayed in place. Liam shook it a little and found it was pretty secure. He was proud of their quick work. They went into the bedroom and did the same thing, with Liam checking again after to make sure it was secure. He did his best to not look around Shea’s room too much in favor of respecting her privacy since she wasn’t expecting guests over.

“Well looks like we're all done here. I’d offer you a beer as a thank you if you could stay, but I know you’re in a hurry to get back so…” She walked forward and wrapped her think arms around his frame in a hug. “Thank you.” She said before unwrapping herself and stepping back.

The whole action was completely innocent, but Liam felt like he was on fire. He needed to leave before it tried to ignite.

“Glad I could help. I guess this is goodbye for good then. Hope the next few days go by quickly and well for you.” He said awkwardly waving. He began walking towards the door with Shea right behind him.

“I hope you’re safe as well. Be careful out there and thank you again.” She said before leaning up and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before stepping back and blushing.

Liam just smiled at her and turned to walk away. He hoped and prayed she’d make it through this hurricane. She had no idea what was in store for this city the next few days.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats you get more chapters today because I'm in one of those places in the US that are getting all the snow and it's -20 here with the wind chill. So in other words I'm working from home today.

Liam carefully opened the door to his hotel room to see Zayn sitting on the floor leaning up against the bed playing with Dreamscicle. He fully opened the door and stepped in not having to be cautious anymore.

“Hey, where have you been? I got freaked out when I woke up and you weren’t back. I saw the cat stuff though and figured you had just stepped out again to grab something. I was ready to go find you though if you hadn’t surfaced in another twenty minutes.” He said seriously standing up from his position on the floor. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, his shirt riding up to expose his toned stomach.

“Well I’m alive, just had to go do something really quick, but I’m back now and ready to take over cat duties. So, you can go back to your room if you want.”

“Damn way to kick me out.” Zayn laughed. “But seriously where did you go? You came back empty-handed. Don’t tell me you went and ate dinner without me, or I’ll come over there and tackle you.”

“I don’t know why it’s a big deal for you to know, but if you have to, I went to help Shea pick up some boards at the hardware store and board up the windows of her apartment,” Liam said dismissively as he scooped Dreamscicle off the floor and into his lap as he sat down on the bed against the headboard.

“Liam! I told you not to meddle in stuff like this. We don’t know if that girl is supposed to live or die from this hurricane and if she’s supposed to die, we’re not supposed to change it. You’ve already seen the weird stuff that’s changed in the future from our other travels. The last thing we need is something really big or bad happening and us not being able to fix it. Let’s just do our mission and get out of here in one piece.” Zayn made his way to the door. Liam could tell by his posture he was angry. But he would get over it.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want the timeline to be messed up when we get back either. It’s just hard knowing when something this bad is going to happen and all these people have no idea the severity of the situation. All these people we passed on the street today could be dead in a few days. It’s just different than the other missions we’ve been on thus far.” Liam said honestly trying to make Liam understand his feeling. Well at least for one of the issues between them.

“Get some rest Liam, we gotta film tomorrow. I’ll come to get you for breakfast.” He said before walking out the door and shutting it softly behind him.

***

Liam awoke to a weight on the center of his chest he wasn’t used to and knocking at his door that was growing insistently louder by the second. He looked down to find the source of the weight was Dreamscicle curled up on his chest with his head and ears raised looking in the direction of the door.

“Well boys, I think we’re going to have to get up now. I don’t think he’s going to stop until I answer.” He said while gently moving the cat onto the bedsheets and quickly running over to the door before Zayn wakes up the entire floor. He swung open the door with Zayn”s hand moving in midair.

“Finally! You know you sleep like the dead sometimes and it freaks me out. I thought I was going to have to get the front office to unlock your door and let me in.”

“That would be a very rude invasion of privacy you know. And just because you have trouble sleeping in any bed but your own doesn’t mean you have to take it out on me.” Liam said as he went to his backpack and started pulling out a change of clothes. “Guess there’s no point in showering if we're about to get really wet and gross.”

“All in a day’s work,” Zayn said winking to him as he went to sit on the bed and pet Dreamscicle. Liam took his pile of clothes and toothbrush into the adjoining bathroom and began to quickly get ready. When he was changed and teeth brushed, he looked at his reflection in the mirror and tried to comb his fingers through his short brown locks. He had brought a brush with him, but he thought this was just as effective.

He walked out of the bathroom and threw his old clothes in the direction of his backpack before going over and actually putting them back in with his toothbrush.

“Alright let’s go I’m starving.” He said already moving towards the door. Liam got up and away they went to the hotel lobby.

When they arrived in the lobby and began heading towards the continental breakfast Liam stopped in his tracks as he looked out the windows at the dark blueish black sky and rain hitting the windows.

“Look at that wind. It’s going to be challenging walking around getting footage of this.” Liam said trailing behind Zayn who was already making himself a plate of eggs and bacon.

“We’re going to have to stay close and work fast. I’m hoping an hour will be sufficient enough for today. We still have a few days of filming left so if our first day isn’t the best, we have a buffer zone.”

They sat down and ate their breakfast as the tv in the background filled the nearly deserted hotel lobby. Zayn and Liam watched as the news anchors warned of the dangers ahead, repeatedly showing on the radar the path of the storm. The mayor of New Orleans came on to urge everyone that stayed to seek shelter and stay put until the storm had passed.

“I never thought I’d be saying this, but it's times like this where I’m actually grateful we live in the Midwest,” Liam said breaking the silence between them. Zayn stifled a laugh almost choking on a piece of egg and proceeded to throw a piece of a biscuit at Liam’s head.

“Don’t say things like that while I’m eating. I could have choked, and you would have had to save me.”

“Oh, hush drama queen, humor is exactly what is needed in a time like this. Besides, I wasn’t being funny I was actually stating a fact.” He smirked.

“Shut up and finish your breakfast.” Zayn chastised and so Liam did.

The only thing they need for filming were their glasses especially engineered by the lab specifically for missions. It was mainly for missions that required stealth video taking, especially farther back in time where technology wasn’t very advanced yet. When they were done, they cleaned up their messes and headed out the door to brave the storm. The lab had thankfully packed windbreakers for them which they immediately put the hoods upon as they ascended into the pouring rain. The streets were deserted as the wind howled around them. Liam pressed record on the side of his glasses to capture the atmosphere of the city.

“Okay stay close to me in case one of us starts to get swept away by the wind,” Zayn shouted over the wind as water pelted both of them in the face making it hard to see out of the glasses. Liam nodded and went to stand close behind Zayn as he started walking forward down the block. As the wind blew against them making it hard for them to walk, Liam laid his hand on Zayn’s shoulder.

They walked a few blocks down going towards the direction of the ocean getting in as much of the atmosphere around them as they could. Liam hoped this was what the lab was wanting.

“That should be enough for now, I forgot the flooding starts later today. We might have to come back out and get some footage of that too, especially if we’re unable to get out tomorrow.” Zayn said as they made their way down the street almost back to their hotel. Liam had breathed a sigh of relief when he had eyesight on their hotel. His clothes were drenched, and water was seeping through the material chilling his skin. He was already imagining how nice a hot shower would be to warm himself up.

They made their way back inside as they noticed the hotel maintenance was securing the big windows lining the lobby with boards. Zayn got off on his room floor saying he would come up to his room once they were both dried off. Liam walked down the hallway to his room, his shoes making a sloshing noise every time they hit the carpet. Wearing converse was a bad idea they were going to take forever to dry.

He went into his hotel room and made sure Dreamscicle was okay first before stripping off his soaking clothes and throwing them into a corner of the bathroom. Except for his windbreaker which he picked up and hung on the back of the bathroom door. He showered making himself feel like a warm-blooded human again and then dressed in a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt packed by the lab. He toweled dried his hair going back into the main part of the room and laying on the bed. Dreamcicle jumped up with him and they were both asleep within a minute.

***

“What is it with you and trying to beat down my door,” Liam asked Zayn as he let him into his room.

“What is it with you and your sleeping habits?” Zayn retorted.

“Touché.”

“Anyways look out your window, this is not going to be a fun time. Also, I’m assuming getting dinner is going to be difficult tonight. I wonder if this place has room service.” Zayn began digging through the chores looking for a menu. Liam went over to the window and pulled back the current looking down at the street below. Or what was the street but now looked like a river running through the buildings.

“How high do you think the water is right now?” Liam asked closing the blinds and turning back to Zayn.

“Right now, it’s probably a few feet. We can still walk in it, but it's rising pretty fast so we need to get video fast and get back here before we get swept away by it.” Zayn explained digging through the backpack he had brought with him. “The lab packed up a floating raft that inflates on its own if we get in a bind. Now quick grab your windbreaker and glasses and let’s go.”

Liam followed his orders and they were descending down to the hotel lobby a few minutes later. He made sure to put out a big pile of food for Dreamscicle and give the cat food and ear scratches in case they didn’t come back that night. The windows were all boarded up now and the lobby now bare with just the sound of the tv cutting through the silence.

“What if the doors are locked? Or what if they have it to where people can leave and can’t get back in so water doesn’t pour in?” He asked assessing the situation in front of them and frowning. The water was at least two feet high already and washing down the street like a river.

“It’s going to be risky, but I brought supplies in my backpack in case that happens. We may have to brave the storm tonight if worst comes to worst. The plan is just getting a few blocks down, get the footage, and come back, and hopefully, they’ll let us back in.”

They both made their way through the breezeway staring at the only doors left separating them from the murky water on the other side. Zayn dropped his backpack and pulled out some thin yellow rope before beginning to tie one side around his waist. He handed the other end of the roughly five feet rope to Liam. “Wrap the other end around your waist. This way if the water starts to drift us in different directions we won’t be separated.

“Damn that’s smart.” He said already double knotting the rope securely on his waist through his belt loops in his jeans.

“I’m pretty sure this is why they paired us together to keep us both accountable.”

They made sure everything was secure on them before quickly opening the door and braving the storm. Water immediately rushed by their feet soaking their shoes and pant legs as they waded through what they were hoping was the sidewalk. They tried to stay as close to the building as they could, grasping the wall for leverage. The wind tried pushing them back as rain whipped past them and pelted them in the face. Liam could feel his windbreaker viciously hit his skin as it tried to shield his skin from the rain.

They trudged down the block sloshing water as they went. Every step they took it felt like the water was rising. They made it down a few blocks as Liam recognized some of the areas, he had started to familiarize himself with. He looked down farther and spotted Shea’s apartment where he had just been yesterday. He felt Zayn as he stopped in front of him causing Liam to bump into him.

“Oh, shit there’s about to be a surge. Quick grab the raft out of my backpack and hold on to something for dear life.” Zayn yelled.

Liam quickly reached in and grabbed the can tube the raft was in lying conveniently at the top. He zipped the backpack back up and quickly began to walk over to a street post to hold on. They both watched on in horror as a wave of water around 15 feet came towards them from down the street drowning everything in its past. Parked cars in the street were pushed into each other and dragged down the street by the force of the water. Liam and Zayn both gasped in shock when they saw the time machine get pushed as well.

“Holy shit, do you think the time machines waterproof?” Liam yelled to Zayn.

“I don’t know but at the moment all I care about is if we’re waterproof. Shit, quickly take a large breath.” Zayn said right before the wave hit them full force. They each hugged one side of the pole holding on for dear life as the water completely submerged them. Liam held his breath as he rested his head against the pull for a moment holding on with all his might. If one of them let, go they would both be swept away. He was still holding onto the tube that had the life raft they were definitely going to need.

After around forty-five seconds Liam felt his lungs burn with the need to breathe. He reached over and grabbed Zayn’s hand trying to pull him up as Liam began swimming towards the top of the water. Liam felt like for a moment he would never get to the top as his lungs were screaming at him for air until finally, they busted through the surface gulping in large breaths of air. Their arms brushed against each other as they began treading water to stay afloat. The water looked to be at least up to the second story of all the building if not the third, it was hard to tell as Liam looked around trying to gain his baring’s. He finally spotted again the familiar building of Shea’s apartment he hadn’t even known he’d been searching for.

“Swim this way,” Liam yelled pointing in the direction of the apartment.

“Okay,” Zayn yelled back trying to push his hair out of his eyes.

They swam the best they could with them still being tethered together. They reached the building and held on to the window seal to catch their breathes. Liam glanced in realizing they were a floor above Shea’s second-floor apartment.

“Shit,” Liam said quietly to himself. “Zayn you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I need you to do something for me. Keep holding on to that ledge and don’t let go and here take the raft tube back. I’m going to go underwater for a minute to look at something. Just stay there and make sure I don’t float away.”

“Are you insane? We came up from being underwater and are finally catching our breaths. Why do you want to go back under?”

“This is Shea’s apartment building, but she lives on the second floor and this is the third,” He said gesturing to the window. “I helped board up her window and I just wanna make sure it held up.”

“What is it with you and this girl? Just let it go Liam she’s not worth it. She’s not the reason we're here and if she’s supposed to drown then that’s what fate had in store…”

Liam couldn’t hear Zayn anymore as he dove underwater forgoing his protests. He quickly undid the rope around his waist to free him from Zayn. The water was murky as he did his best to blink his eyes to adjust to seeing underwater. He swam as quick as he could to the window below feeling around as he blurrily made out the images in front of him. He felt glass and then the skin of another human being. He startled and pulled back for a moment before moving back in to feel and make out a human arm sticking out of the window where it looked to be shattered. Liam could tell Shea was trying to quickly get out of the window as the water was being sucked through the crack of the window.

He quickly went back to the surface for air before taking another big breath and diving back down. This time when he made contact with the window, he immediately started elbowing the rest of the glass with his clothed elbow making a bigger opening. Shea’s whole body appeared now with her arm as she tried swimming through the jagged opening. Liam helped grab hold of her arm and help pull her to his chest before propelling them both up to the surface. They swam over to the ledge where a pissed off Zayn was waiting.

“Liam?” Shea asked as she caught her breath and pushed her weight hair out of her face. Finally taking a good look at who saved her.

“Hey, Shea.” He replied softly. “Guessing the boards didn’t hold up then?”

“Sadly no. Once the window broke water started pouring in at a steady rate and then once I removed the board it started gushing in and filling up my apartment fast. If you hadn’t helped break the window just now, I don’t know if I would have made it out in time.”

Liam looked over to Zayn who was observing them.

“I’m sorry,” Liam said quietly to him so Shea couldn’t hear.

“Whatever. Let’s just get to safety before another surge knocks us out.” He raised his voice so Shea could hear him too. “Okay here’s the plan. Let’s attempt to swim back to the hotel. I know at this rate we won’t make it in but the closer we are the better for when the water finally starts to recede. Shea do you know how to swim?”

“Yeah, and I can keep up. So, lead the way.” She answered back. He nodded then pushed off the ledge and began to front crawl his way through the water. Liam and Shea swimming close behind him. They kept swimming down the block dodging items as they got carried down the street. They swam up to where the hotel stood partially underwater and tread water in place as they stood at their new predicament.

“We’re going to have to find a place up on higher ground to stay until the water recedes,” Liam said turning to Zayn.

“I know somewhere we could go but we’re going to have to swim for a while to get there,” Shea suggested.

“I don’t think we have much of a choice at this rate. Lead the way.” Zayn said waving for her to take the lead.

“Hey Zayn, should we swim, or is it safer to use the raft?” Liam asked.

“You guys have a raft?” Shea budded in. “Where is it?”

“It’s not inflated yet, but I don’t know. It would probably be safer, but it’ll take us a lot longer to reach our destination.” Zayn said posing their options.

“With the way the water is still rising, we need to get there as fast as possible,” Shea spoke already starting to swim ahead of a little.

“I agree, let’s just swim as fast as we can, but Zayn has the raft tube ready in case something would happen and we need it,” Liam said before swimming to catch up with Shea. He saw from the corner of his eye Zayn moving to join them and they began swimming again to safety.

They front crawled down the street for blocks, as they made turns, they would go against the current which made it harder for them as they continued to swim among various floating items threatening to push them back. Eventually, Shea finally stopped and the two guys stopped behind her, all of them panting as they caught their breath.

“That building over there, my friend lives there on the fourth floor. She evacuated a few days ago so her place is empty. If we can get up to her window, we’re going to have to break in but it's high enough we should be safe.”

“Works for us. We may have to slightly climb but we should be able to reach her window with how high the water is.” Liam said looking at the brick buildings lined along the street.

“We’ll help pay to replace the window,” Zayn added, and Liam looked back and smiled at him. Sometimes Zayn could seem straightforward and insensitive and other times he could be very thoughtful and caring. Another trait Liam had gotten used to and yet still surprised by when being around Zayn.

They swam the rest of the way to the building Shea had pointed out. The water now reaching halfway up the third story windows. Thankfully this apartment had balconies that they could climb on. They climbed on the railing of the balcony below the apartment they wanted. Liam and Zayn were both just tall enough to lift the bottom of the railings and pull themselves up to the next balcony. Once they climbed over the railings and were on solid ground, they laid down on the floor putting their arms through the railings to hoist Shea up to safety.

After they both lifted her over the edge, they all collapsed back on the ground resting for a moment as the rain still poured down on their drenched forms. Shea got up first going to the patio door. Shea took out a bobby pin from her hair and began jiggling it in the lock before turning the knob and opening the door. Liam and Zayn both lifted their heads from the ground shocked before both scrambling up to get inside.

“You can pick locks?” Liam said as he entered through the door immediately taking his shoes and socks off.

“Ah, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Shea said winking as she headed into the kitchen, turning on lights as she went.


	6. Chapter 6

They all sat around the kitchen table in their underwear and towels as their clothes lay to dry in the bathroom over the tub. Shea had rummaged through her friend’s pantry and made tea for them to sip as they attempted to warm up.

“I’m going to go see if my friend has any clothes, I can borrow. Make yourselves comfy were going to be here at least for the night.” Shea said before disappearing down the hallway.

“Well, this mission went to shit.” Zayn huffed into his mug.

“It may not be going the way you had planned it out but we're still alive and have a few more days left until we're expected in the future. I think we’re doing okay.” Liam said before finishing off his tea. “Also loving the cheetah print boxers, very exotic of you.”

“Oh, shut it, like your Chicago Bulls’ boxers are anything to brag about and while I’m all for sexy times with more than one person I prefer it with people all from the same time period I’m from,” Zayn whispered across the table.

“Who knows maybe girls are freakier back in this decade.” He suggested raising his eyebrows up and down.

“No, absolutely not. Get that idea out of your head right now Liam, because you cannot sleep with her. Think of how much we could have already altered the timeline just by you talking to her, saving her, and now us staying at her friend’s place. These all seem like little things, but we know how the timeline can twist and turn. Time may be linear but it's wrapped like licorice.”

“Is this about the timeline or jealousy?” Liam asked seriously wanting to know the answer and yet wishing he’d never asked.

“This isn’t about jealously Liam this is about going home to the same place and people we left behind. We talked about this before. What we’ve done is fun, but don’t let me hold you back from having fun with someone. Just not her, or anyone else not from 2060.”

“Alright, alright,” Liam said putting his hands up in surrender, before getting up to take his mug to the sink. “I’m going to go see if our clothes are dry enough now to put in the dryer.” He said before leaving the room.

Once out of sight from Zayn he let the small from etched on his face deepen as replayed what Zayn just said to him. He knew they had already had this talk but every time he was reminded of it, it was like rubbing salt in a wound. He was starting to get over his crush on Zayn because of Shea and he didn’t like Zayn telling him what he couldn’t do with her even if he had good reasoning. He just liked the feeling of liking someone else and flirting with someone else other than Zayn. Something he hadn’t done in a while too infatuated with Zayn to do so. This was good he thought. This is him finally starting to move on and step closer to getting over Zayn.

Liam put their wet clothes in the dryer in hopes that in an hour he and Zayn would be decent again. Shea had found a t-shirt and sweatpants that fit her and was currently pilfering through what was left in her friends’ fridge, freezer, and pantry for dinner.

“Good news boys, Carla, my friend has a box of spaghetti noodles and marinara sauce so hope you like spaghetti.” She yelled from the kitchen as she began taking out pots and pans.

Liam got up and went to the kitchen to asked if she needed help but was shooed away and told to go sit back down. He and Zayn both sat on the black leather sofa watching the news reporting on the hurricane. He had just settled back down and was wishing he had his cell phone from the future when the lights began to flicker before the power went completely out.

“Oh shit!” Liam and Zayn both said at the same time as they were surrounded by darkness. Only a little natural light poured in from the window and balcony door helping them make out the outline of furniture around them.

“Shea are you okay?” Liam yelled trying to feel his way around to safely get back to the kitchen.

“I’m fine.” She yelled back. “Hang on I’m trying to find a flashlight or some candles.”

Liam felt Zayn behind him and reach out to touch his shoulder as they both felt their way into the kitchen just as a bright light was shined at them.

“Found a flashlight!” Shea called to them excitedly. “The stove is gas so I can still make the spaghetti. We’ll just have to eat in the dark.”

“As long as we can still eat, then we’re good.” Liam laughed trying to lighten the mood.

Liam held the flashlight for Shea as she continued making the spaghetti, while Zayn attempted to set the table in the dark. Liam wished again he had his cellphone, so he had another flashlight to use but he remained silent. Thankfully spaghetti didn’t take long to cook as Shea drained the noodles then made plates for the three of them. Once plates were set, Liam set the flashlight in the middle of the table and they began to eat.

They all tried their best to make small talk as they sat in relative darkness. They could hear the wind howling and the rain hitting the windows at a rapid pace. The whole room would light up for a second as lightning flashed across the sky before they were back to the small light given off by the flashlight again.

“Thank you for making the spaghetti, Shea,” Liam said and Zayn quickly followed with his thank you as well.

“So, tell me stuff about you guys? For as much as we’ve seen each other the last few days I feel like I should know more about you.”

Zayn and Liam shared a look across the table, at least Liam snapped his head up and saw the silhouette of Zayn’s shadow move to look towards him. He could also feel Zayn’s eye’s bore into him from the table. Liam hoped from where Shea was sitting at the head of the table, she couldn’t see the quick interaction.

“Well Zayn and I work together as videographers for the National Geographic.” He smoothly lied. He hated doing so, but he had no other choice.

“Yeah, when the news about the hurricane first broke, we were sent down here to get some footage,” Zayn spoke playing along.

“Very cool! That sounds like a way more exciting job than mine. I graduated from college last year with my nursing degree. I had moved down here for school and when I got a job offer down here, I decided to stay.”

“Where are you originally from?” Liam asked curiously.

“Milwaukee, what about you two?

“We’re from Chicago.” Zayn supplied. Liam appreciated him at least trying to be civil and make conversation even if he may not be happy about the situation, they’re in.

“Hey, we were just a city over from each other. My grandparents actually live in Chicago so my family would visit there at least twice a year to go visit them.”

“Such a small world.” Liam said smiling at her, not actually sure if she could see it.

They finished eating their spaghetti as they learned more about each other. When they were done, they all helped clean up and do the dishes before trying to feel their way back to the living room. 

“How many bedrooms does this apartment have?” Zayn asked from somewhere in the darkness as Liam stubbed his toe running into the couch.

“Two, but there’s only one bed because the other bedroom is used as an office.” Shea replied from somewhere in front of Liam who was now seated on the couch. “But I think the couch actually turns into a bed too if I remember correctly.”

“Great, Liam and I can take the couch bed then and you can obviously sleep in your friends’ bed.” Zayn’s voice traveled as it sounded like it was coming closer to the couch. The flashlight had been placed in the middle of the coffee table straight up to try to illuminate the lightest into the room, but it didn’t help much.

Even though it was still early in the night they had no way of telling the time since none of them were wearing watches, they all started getting ready for bed. Liam and Zayn pulled out the bed from the couch only bumping into a few things along the way. Liam took their now slightly fewer wet clothes from the dryer and hung them on the back of the kitchen chairs. Shea told them goodnight before retreating to her friends’ room. Liam figured it was probably in the seven o’clock hour, but it was hard to tell with the dark cloudy skies outside. With no power they also couldn’t watch television or play games so going to bed seemed like the easiest option.

Liam and Zayn found a blanket hanging on the back of the couch they would have to share. Liam took the flashlight and looked in the closet in the hallway for a fresh set of sheets they after some digging, he found. They both struggled to put the fitted sheet on before taking the throw pillows they had thrown on the ground and putting them at the head of the bed. Zayn laid out the throw evenly on the bed before they both crawled under it.

***

Liam knew from counting the days it was August 30th when he got up. He wasn’t sure what time it was as the power was still out. It was still dark outside from the clouds but it looked lighter than nighttime so he assumed it must be morning by now. The rain was at a soft drizzle at the moment as the trees slowly swayed back in forth.

He hadn’t even noticed at first the warmth pressed against his back and the arms wrapped around his chest. He had woken up next to Zayn at his apartment so many times before it was like second nature to him at this point. Though he definitely hoped Shea hadn’t seen them like this. He extracted himself from Zayn very carefully not to wake him. He grabbed the flashlight off the table and turned it on as he navigated to the bathroom. Once he was done, he walked to the kitchen to check on the status of their clothes. They still felt a little damp, but Liam decided he could live with it before slipping his shirt and jeans back on.

He went over to the fridge to see if there was anything to make for breakfast. The fridge and freezer were pretty much cleaned out before Carla had evacuated. He turned to the pantry and found some pancake mix on one of the shelves and figured that would be his best bet. He dug through the kitchen as quietly as he could finding a mixing bowl, skillet, and the utensils he would need. Soon after he got to work making the pancakes the best he could from the light of the flashlight and from the windows.

As he was plating the second pancake and starting on the third, Shea appeared in the kitchen sitting on the other side of the island.

“Good morning.” She said cheerfully and she used her fingers to brush out her curly hair.

“Good morning, hope you’re hungry for pancakes because that’s our breakfast this morning.” He laughed as he set a plate with two pancakes in front of Shea.

“Thank you, these look good.”

“Oh, I think I even saw syrup in the fridge which I’m not sure if its good anymore but also does syrup go bad?” He rambled as he flipped the pancake in the skillet as if he were a professional chef.

Shea laughed at him as she got up to retrieve the syrup. Soon after Zayn appeared in the kitchen still only in his boxers with his brown hair sticking up in various directions. Liam and Shea both attempted to stifle their laughs at his appearance as they went back to what they were doing.

“Our clothes are still a little bit damp Zayn, but I think you can make the sacrifice as I did so we are at least clothed for breakfast,” Liam said as he plated a pancake for Zayn and started on more. Zayn just made a noise of confirmation before taking his shirt and jeans and putting them on right there before taking a seat at the other breakfast bar next to Shea.

“So, I guess we're all stuck here for today,” Shea said as he cut more pieces of her pancakes.

“Actually, Liam and I have some work we have to get done today, but it would be nice if we could come back here when we’re done if we can’t get back into our hotel.” Zayn spoke in his gruff morning voice.

“Sure, you two are welcome here for as long as you need. I know I’m definitely going to be here until the water recedes. How are you guys going to work in these conditions though? Can’t you just take the video from the balcony and call it a day?”

“Our jobs would never allow that; we have to put ourselves in situations so we can get the most accurate representation on video,” Zayn responded as he began digging into the plate Liam sat in front of him.

“If you can’t tell Zayn is very serious about our jobs, but we shouldn’t be gone too long and as long as we have our raft, we should be safe.”

After breakfast, Zayn went through his backpack taking inventory of what he had. He pulled out the tube that carried the raft and set it on the table. When they were both ready to go they put their glasses on and made their way for the balcony.

“Where’s your camera’s?” Shea asked curiously from behind. Liam felt a moment of panic run through him trying to find an excuse to get them out of this one before Zayn spoke up for him.

“All of our equipment is in waterproof bags in my backpack for now until we need it.”

“That’s so smart, of course! We’ll have a good film session and please be safe you two.”

They both smiled and waved at her before turning around and opening the tube to inflate the neon orange raft.

“Liam if you can climb to the next balcony’s railing with the raft and hold on to it until I can climb down then we can both get on and it should be smooth sailing from there.” Zayn directed. Liam followed suit and they were both able to reach the water and climb on the raft with minimal issues. Shea watched them depart from the balcony as they slowly started floating down the street.

“That was some smooth lying you did back there,” Liam commented as they sat there floating on the raft.

“It’s not something I’m proud of but it is a talent I possess.” He responded with a smirk.

They turned on their glasses to start recording all the damage the water had already done. Every corner they turned the flooding just went on and on. People were floating on pieces of things down the street. Liam felt sorry for all the people whose homes were currently underwater.

“Do you think it looks suspicious that we have a raft and all these other people are using objects they’ve found?” He asked Zayn as one man floating on a piece of wood eyed up their raft.

“Not exactly, surely other people have rafts or even boats that they’ll probably use.” Zayn reasoned.

As they were making their way down a block, they saw a man hanging from a balcony holding on for dear life.

“Help!” He screamed as he saw the boys approaching. “Please I can’t swim”

“Hang on,” Liam yelled back as he tried to steer the raft towards the man.

“Stop! What are you doing we can’t help him; we can’t change the timeline anymore.” Zayn said steering the raft away.

“Zayn we can’t just leave him like that to drown we have to help him.”

“Even if we did help him what then? The raft is only big enough for the two of us. One more person and we’ll all be in the water. We can’t help him, Liam, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to let it go.”

The man looked over to them again and began pleading for them to help him as he was slipping from the rain that was starting to pour down heavier again. Liam looked at the man and then over to Zayn before jumping off the raft and into the water swimming quickly over to where the man was. He was about ten feet up from the water and Liam had no actual idea on how to save him.

“Sir, I’m right below you but in order to help you, I’m going to need you to let go. When you hit the water, I’ll either catch you or pull you up. I won’t let you drown.” Liam said calmly to the man who looked to be in his thirties.

“Are you sure you’ve got me?” He responded back in a shaky voice. Liam could see his arms quivering from holding on to the balcony railing for so long.

“I promise, just let go.”

Liam saw the man let go and begin to fall towards him and the water before he felt himself being tugged backward by the shirt and back on to the raft.

“No! Let me go!” Liam screamed and kicked as Zayn held on to him and the man hit the water with a big splash. He watched in horror as the water raft floated farther away from the man was still hadn’t resurfaced.

“Zayn let me go! He can’t swim I have to save him!” Liam screamed some more trying to kick and fight his way out of Zayn’s grip, but he was stronger than Liam and held him in a vice grip.

“I’m sorry but given his situation, he was probably going to drown anyway, and you weren’t supposed to be here to save him so I can’t let you save him now.” Zayn spoke calmly close to his ear.

“How can you be so heartless like this?” He said in disbelief as his eyes never left the spot in the water that the man had entered and still hadn’t resurfaced from.

“I’m not trying to be heartless. I genuinely feel bad, I do. But this is one man living or dying versus the entire timeline being altered.”

“You don’t know that!” Liam screamed back at him relaxing into Zayn’s arms as he felt his whole body give up and his eyes start to well up with tears from all the emotions he was feeling. “You don’t know that.” He said again softer as his voice cracked on the last part. He felt Zayn change his grip to one of a more of a comforting embrace, but it did nothing to comfort him.

“I don’t know what will or won’t alter time and that’s probably the scariest thing about doing these missions. Even if they change no one listens to us in the present. I’m doing this for us, Liam. Why can’t you see that?” By now they had already drifted to the end of the block and Zayn was trying to turn the raft, so they went down another street so the now drowned man was out of view.

Zayn let go of his grip on Liam who just slumped against the edge of the raft as he pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his face on his legs. He felt a few tears fall down his face and just let them fall down onto his jeans as the pleading man’s face plagued his mind. Liam hadn’t even realized his glasses must have slipped off when he dove in the water until he went to wipe the tears off his face.

“Can we please go back to Shea now?” Liam said through gritted teeth. Anger was now surging through him but he was trying to stay as collected as he could.

“Yes, that’s why I turned so we could look around and head back the way we came just down parallel streets to get other footage,” Zayn said looking around and adjusting his glasses every now and then.

Liam could care less about the footage at this point and that’s all Zayn seemed to care about. He understood that’s what their job was and the whole point of going to the past, but this mission was different than the others they had been on. Before this, they had gone to concerts and sporting events. Never had they dealt with this serious of an event on a mission before. When the lab had brought it up to them Liam had felt nervous and hesitant about it, but he liked the new and different aspect of it, and Zayn had convinced him it would be a great mission. Now he felt like he had been lied to and deceived. It was the only day four out of seven. He still had three more days to live through this hell and he already feared this was just the beginning of the sadness he was about to see. 

“Will you please stop pouting Lei, I like it better when you smile.” Zayn sat down next to Liam and said in a soft voice. Liam didn’t have it in him to look at Zayn yet. He just wanted to go back and be with Shea at the moment and nowhere near Zayn. The longer their mission went on the farther away from Zayn Liam craved to be. A complete one-eighty from how he felt at the beginning of the mission. 

Zayn reached his hand toward Liam setting it on his knee, causing Liam to jerk away quickly. The boat swayed up in down as it tried to rebalance itself.

“Don’t touch me. You have no right to touch me anymore.” He said in a deadly tone locking eyes with Zayn before looking away.

“Fine have your time to sulk. This will all be old news by tomorrow.”


	7. Chapter 7

It was sometime in the afternoon when they returned back to the apartment building, they had come from. They had gone by their hotel but there was no way they could get in so they just kept going. Liam hoped and prayed Dreamscicle was alright. He supposed if anything he’s safer alone in the hotel room compared to if they had left him on the streets. He would have drowned by now. Liam stopped his thoughts at that instead glancing at Shea who was handing them towels to dry off as Liam stripped off his jeans and T-shirt again.

“I’m so glad you guys are okay; I’ve been anxiously cleaning ever since you’ve guys left, and this isn’t even my place. Though I don’t think Clara will complain when she sees how clean her bathtub looks. Well at least from the flashlight it looked clean…” Shea rambled, and Liam found it cute. He instantly relaxed when he was able to be back on solid land and have some space away from Zayn.

“Do you guys mind if I borrow the flashlight? I’m going to take a shower.” Zayn asked slinging his towel over his shoulder. They both replied no before he disappeared out of sight. Liam visibly letting a breath out he didn’t know he had been holding.

“You okay?” Shea asked coming up closer to him and rubbing her hands up and down the towel covering his arms to warm him up.

“Yeah, just glad to be back.” He said reassuring her with a smile.

“Oh, you guys are probably hungry. Want me to make you something?”

“It’s okay I can come with you to the kitchen and we can see what our options are.” He said feeling brave and taking her hand in his. He had no idea what possessed him to do it. Looking back, he would blame it on adrenaline, but at that moment, he just needed something solid to ground him in a place he didn’t even belong.

Her hand was warm. Her hand was solid. Her hand was real, and her hand was what he held for dear life as they walked the few feet through the small apartment to the kitchen. She smiled up at him and squeezed his hand as she leaned against the counter staring up at him.

“You sure you’re okay? You don’t feel sick, do you?” She asked using her other hand to feel his forehead. He gave her a weak smile before going to the pantry, so he didn’t have to face her, but still kept their hands connected even at an odd angle.

“It’s a different world out there than when we first got to this lively city. Today took a toll on me more than I thought it would, but I’ll be okay. I hope this city will too.”

He dug around until he found what he needed to make a PB&J. He made one for Shea too and complete the plates with the rest of an open bag of potato chips also in the pantry. Liam could hear the bathroom door open from down the hallway but chose to ignore it in favor of taking his plate and sitting down at the small kitchen table. Shea sat next to them as they began to eat their lunch.

“Oh sandwiches, is there enough for me to have one? Zayn asked dressed in a different pair of clothes he must have had in his backpack that he had never offered to Liam who was still only in his boxers. Liam didn’t answer him to a second later Shea jumped in.

“Yeah, all the ingredients to make a sandwich is in the pantry. We took the rest of the potato chips, but I think I saw some pretzels in there If you wanted something on the side.”

“Thanks, Shea.” He responded going behind Liam to get to the kitchen.

He could feel Zayn’s stare bore into the back of his head as he walked by him, but he just kept his head down and ate his sandwich. After that, both boys ate in silence except when prompted to speak by Shea who was doing anything to break the awkward silence. He felt bad for Shea who had to sit and endure their tension over an event she didn’t even know about.

After they were finished eating Liam took a shower in the dark using the flower smelling shampoo and body wash Shea’s friend had in her shower. As the warm water washed over his body, he felt like he could think and breathe again. Finally having time by himself in these last few days he felt his shoulders tense before a sob broke from his lips and he fell forward catching himself on the tile wall as he tried to quiet his choked sobbing that wrecked through his whole body. He held his fist to his mouth and bit down on it to keep quiet as he broke down.

He stayed like that for a few minutes letting the hot water cascade over his body and the steam envelope him before finally shutting off the water and getting out. He toweled himself off with the towel Shea had given to him earlier. He slipped back on the boxers he had been wearing for the past three days now and cringed at the thought. He took some toothpaste that was sitting on the counter and put some on his finger before rubbing it on his teeth and spitting it out.

He opened the door to find a nicely folded stack of clothes laying on the ground for him. He picked them up and closed the bathroom door again to inspect them. They were definitely Zayn’s from the look of them. Thankfully they were the same size and while still angry at him, he felt better for Shea’s sake if he wasn’t walking around partially naked. He slipped on the black sweatpants and red Blackhawks T-shirt sighing in comfort when the soft material covered his skin.

After crying he felt a sense of numbness. He didn’t feel as much sadness or anger as he did before, but also it felt like there was a void of all emotions as his brain tried to boot itself back up again after restarting. He opened the door to the bathroom holding the flashlight to guide him back down the hall to the living room. Shea and Zayn, we’re sitting on opposite sides of the couch talking about the weather they were observing outside.

“Oh, good you found the clothes. Now you don’t have to walk around all indecent. Sorry didn’t even think to look in my backpack yesterday.” Zayn said as he noticed Liam walk in.

“While you’re both incredibly fit, I do appreciate both of you covering up at least during the day.” Shea laughed from her spot on the couch.

Liam moved emotionless to the coffee table and set the flashlight standing up before going to sit in the recliner next to the sofa on Shea’s side.

Everyone was quiet as he could feel Shea and Zayn’s eyes on him tracking his every movement as he sat down and got comfy in the chair. He looked over at them to see the outlines of their faces looking back.

Shea cleared her throat and got up from the couch. “I saw some beers in the fridge, I’d say it’s probably somewhat close to five.” Before she disappeared into the kitchen. She came back holding three cans of beer which she distributed to Liam and Zayn. They both quietly thanked her before the sounds of cans opening and the fizzling of fizz could be heard echoing around the room. Liam took a sip of the cold drink and closed his eyes as it fizzled around his mouth and on his tongue before swallowing it down.

“Did you guys see any stores open while you were out today? We’re going to need more food if we’re going to be here for a few more days.” Shea spoke after taking a sip of her beer then setting it on the coffee table. Liam didn’t see the need to set his beer down. He was washing it down like a soda that would probably be finished off in a matter of minutes.

“It looked like everything was underwater or boarded up today, but if hopefully the water starts going down some maybe some of the stores can open tomorrow. If you want, you can come with us tomorrow. We just have to be very careful maneuvering on the raft with three of us.” Zayn spoke. Liam was surprised that he would invite Shea along with them. He wondered if it had something to do with trying to get on Liam’s good side. Liam finished off the beer before standing up to go see if he could find another one in the fridge. Thankfully there had been a twelve-pack so there were still a few lefts. He grabbed it and opened it on the way as he maneuvered in the dark back to his chair.

“Are you trying to get drunk over their buddy?” Zayn asked instantly igniting the void in Liam to feeling pissed off again.

“Fuck off Zayn.” He barked before taking a long swig of the beer.

“We don’t have to get up at any certain time tomorrow so I’m for getting drunk,” Shea said before chugging the rest of her beer in one go and going to grab another one.

“I agree, I guess we deserve to relax a little,” Zayn replied before finishing off his beer as well. Suddenly everyone was on their second beer and drinking it more like water than alcohol. Soon everyone was on their third beer and Liam felt his cheeks heat up and his body become looser. Everyone became chattier as the beer began to hit all of them. Unfortunately, there was none left after everyone took their third much to everyone’s dismay.

Liam felt a pleasant warmness flow through his body as he felt content for once that day. He put the recliner back and relaxed, tuning out Shea and Zayn talking as he drifted off to sleep.

***

He felt hands shaking him awake, but he tried moving in the recliner to get away from them. The hands went from shaking to tickling forcing Liam to open his eyes and see who the source of the attack was.

“Come on sleepy head we have to go out and get some more food,” Shea said gently stopping her attack once she saw Liam’s eyes open.

The room seemed brighter as more daylight peeked through the window. It was still overcast but not as dark as the past few days had been. He stretched in the chair while yawning before finally standing up hearing some of his joints pop.

“Come on old man Zayn and I have been waiting for you to wake up for at least an hour now. We both ate what we could find in the pantry, our options are getting more limited.

“I’m not an old man, and okay I’ll go in search of food, and then we can go.” He said as he padded over to the kitchen searching through the pantry. He found an unopened container of Madeiran oranges and began eating that with a spoon. Zayn walked in a minute later from the balcony. Liam hadn’t even realized he’d been out there.

“Good news guys, it looks like around us the water went down by a few feet. It still looks like other parts of the city are still pretty underwater from what I can see but we should be able to go get more food on foot. We may even be able to go get Dreamscicle.” Zayn said cheerfully.

“That’s great!” Shea said. “I’m going to go pull my hair back and then I’ll be ready to go.” She walked towards the bathroom leaving Liam and Zayn alone once again.

Zayn walked closer to Liam but left the Island in the middle of them as a buffer zone.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Zayn asked leaning forward on the countertop.

“Like I just witnessed someone die yesterday.” He said flatly.

“Liam please, you’ve got to look past this. We were never originally there the first time around which means we would have drowned anyway. It was also meant to happen, and we just happened to be bystanders of it yesterday. Given the circumstances, we could see other sad things today, though I hope we don’t.

“That’s just it though, we have the power to time travel, and they don’t. If you were related to that guy wouldn’t you wish you had a time machine to go back and save him? We have that technology that these people wish and pray of having especially during what’s happening outside.” He said quietly also leaning on the countertop so he didn’t have to speak loud in case Shea returned while he was talking.

“Did you learn nothing during your training days? Or did you have the special cushy training because both your parents work at the lab?”

“Shut the fuck up Zayn,” Liam growled grabbing a handful of Zayn’s shirts and pushing him back.

“Whoa what the hell is going on?” Shea yelled.

“Yeah what the hell is going on Liam? Zayn asked stepping closer to the counter again.

“I’m ready to let’s go and just get this over with.” He said heading towards the front door and walking out without checking to see if anyone was following behind him. To his slight annoyance, they were but they let him walk ahead and kept their distance at least till they got to the main door of the apartment building and went outside.

“Do you know where the closest store is around here, Shea?” He turned around and asked as they all stood on the wet sidewalk where there was still some standing water.

“Yeah, there’s a grocery store about a block down. My friend and I have gone there for-drink mixes before.”

“Lead the way,” Zayn said gesturing for her to start walking. Liam noticed Zayn had on his filming glasses and had his black backpack on his backfilled with other supplies they might need.

Liam felt like he was wading in a creek or pond as they walked through the water in the middle of the street to avoid cars that had been pushed onto the sidewalk by the water. They saw other people outside surveying the damage to their homes, storefronts, and cars. Some kids were splashing around in the water as if they were at the pool. Their mom scolded them for getting each other all wet before shooting them back inside. Some people took to using canoes or rafts to float down the street since cars couldn’t be driven through this.

“You think the grocery store will be open? A lot of things looked damaged around here?” Liam asked Shea who was walking in the middle of him and Zayn, probably to ensure they wouldn’t fight anymore. In the short span of time, he’s become more and more grateful for Shea being with them, so it wasn’t just him and Zayn for a week.

“I’m not sure. I really hope so, but the area around here isn’t looking good.”

They turned the corner to the store to find people going into it all to their relief. As they got closer Liam started paying closer attention to what was happening in front of them already starting to get in front of Shea.

“What are you doing Liam?” Zayn asked coming up to him as he halted his walking.

“Guys I don’t think the grocery store is open, I think it’s being looted, look.” He said to point to where the boards had been torn down and the automatic door pried open enough for people to get in.”

“Are you sure? The powers out so maybe that was the only way they could open the store.” Shea added beginning to walk forward. Zayn walked in front of both of them taking the lead inside the store, with the two of them following closely behind.

In the dark people quickly went down the aisles grabbing what they wanted and running out of the store. Others worth bandanas and had baseball bats as they stuffed backpacks full of items.

“Move out of the way.” A guy trying to get in said as he pushed past them and down one of the aisles.

“What should we do?” Liam turned to Zayn and Shea.

“I don’t want to steal, but we really need more food for the next couple of days,” Zayn said cringing. Liam could practically see the moral dilemma going on in his mind right now.

“I don’t want to steal either, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Let’s just quickly get a few items to hold us over and then get out of here in case there’s trouble.” Liam said nervously glancing around.

They all nodded to each other before making their way to grab what they needed and could find. Shelves were already starting to look picked over as more people ran in grabbing things. Liam grabbed the first loaf of bread he saw and then a second one just to be on the safe side. He turned around to asked Shea if she’d eat whole wheat when he realized he was by himself. They must have gone to different aisles to grab things. Splitting up was actually a good call he thought to himself as he moved down the bakery department. He knew the dairy department would be useless since the power had been out for a few days now.

He went to the next aisle trying to make out the different products on the shelf in the dark. He was thinking he was in the pasta aisle and grabbed a few boxes and cans he touched. His hands were already full, so he wandered down the aisle to another part of the store looking for Shea and Zayn. He tried to walk as fast as he could wanting to get out of here fast. He was getting a bad feeling the longer they were in there.

“Hey, this aisle has been claimed, turn around and walk away girly.” Liam heard from somewhere in front of him.

“Who gave you the right to claim aisles? We’re just trying to get food to live for the next few days. You don’t need to hoard it all.” Liam heard Shea say anger clear in her voice.

“I don’t know if you can see it, but I’m holding a bat sweetheart. Anyone who tries to get past me is gonna get their head knocked off. Now move along”

Liam quickly moved forward to find Shea, before things escalated but a rough hand stopped him and pushed him back making him drop one of the cans he was holding.

“Sorry, pal this section is now closed move along.”

Liam could barely make out the outline of the guy that towered over him with a bandana covering his face.

“No, wait I just need to get my friends that went that way, and then we’ll be gone,” Liam said trying to move forward again.

The guy moved forward swiftly throwing a punch to Liam’s face causing him to fall backward and drop the things in his arms, as he cradled his face.

“Your friends are probably being rounded up right now so stay the fuck down or I’ll use my bat next time.”

Liam scooted backward till his back hit a shelf, his groceries having been forgotten on the floor somewhere in front of him. He didn’t like the sound of the words “rounding up”. They needed to get out of this store as quickly as possible, they could starve for a few days if they had to. That option would still mean they’re alive.

A gunshot rang out loudly through the store before he heard the panic sounds of people gasping and running out of the store.

“That’s right everyone get out before I shoot it again. That was your warning shot. Your shopping spree has come to an end.” A guy yelled from somewhere towards the center of the store. Liam quickly got to his feet, as he used what little light, he had from the doors to try to spot Shea and Zayn.

“Shea? Zayn?” He called out at a normal volume hoping they would hear him without drawing too much attention to himself.

“Liam?” Shea spoke from somewhere Liam couldn’t see. “Where are you we have to go?”

“I’m over here, come towards the door.”

“Shea, Liam, run” Zayn yelled as he ran past Liam towards the door as another gunshot rang out through the room.

Liam didn’t have to be told twice as he ran after him out of the cracked sliding doors praying Shea was behind him. He saw Zayn standing a little way down the sidewalk carrying an armful of canned goods. Liam jogged over to him and then turned around to look for Shea.

“Are you okay? What the hell happened to your face?” Zayn said as he dropped his backpack to the ground and started putting the cans, he was carrying in it.

“I’m fine, where’s Shea?” He said starting to walk back to the store entrance.

“Liam no wait, you can’t go back in there.”

“I’m not leaving anyone behind again.” He said before he began running to the entrance. Right as he reached the door Shea was being led out by one of the men in the bandanas.

“Oh, thank god.” He breathed as he quickly grabbed Shea from the man’s grip and pulled her to him. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?” He said as he pulled her back to inspect her body for injuries.

“I’m fine, are you and Zayn okay? What happened to your face?” She said as they walked towards Zayn.

“Yeah you never answered me before when I asked about your face,” Zayn said as they approached.

“One of the assholes in there punched me when I tried to go find you both. Fucking jerks think they can take over a grocery store in a time like this. What a bunch of scum.” He spat trying to control the anger he felt over the situation.

Shea turned to him and reached up to gently touch his bruised face, “I wish we had some ice or just something frozen we could put on that. It’s already starting to swell.”

Her cool fingertips lightly tracing his cheek felt like heaven as he basked at the moment before Zayn was interrupting them and Shea was stepping back retreating her hand back to her side.

“We need to move, in case those assholes come out and decide they want to take over the street or something. Also, they may be a little mad at me so we gotta go.” Zayn said as he slung his backpack on and began quickly moving down the street in the direction of their next stop.

“What the hell did you do? Is this how you were the only one who managed to get food

“You got food?” Shea asked looking over excitedly towards Zayn.

“My backpacks full of as many can good as I could carry. Not all sure what I got so hopefully it's stuff we can live off the next few days. Also, to answer your question Liam, I may have tripped the guy with the gun to make my escape which there is why a second gunshot happened. I think he shot the floor; definitely glad he didn’t shoot me.” He laughed as they all walked in a row down the street.

“You’re crazy you know, that right?” Liam said laughing in disbelief at the ridiculousness of this whole mission.

“Hey, it ended up working out alright in the end so let’s just be thankful. Now let’s go see if we can get to your cat.”

They walked the long walk back to the hotel but were discouraged when the water began to get higher and higher as they walked. When they reached the hotel, the door was over halfway blocked by water and the doors were locked to get in. At this point, the three of them were swimming since it was harder to walk in the higher water.

“Shit I hope the poor little guys still have some food and water left. Maybe I should have left a faucet dripping or dumped the whole bag of food before we left.” He said running his wet hands through his hair out of anxiety.

“Hey, you can’t blame yourself. You took him in and saved him. He’s an alley cat who’s now warm, dry, and has a comfy bed to sleep on. Hopefully tomorrow we can get to him.” Shea put a comforting hand on his shoulder. All of them were soaking wet and the air around them was warm and damp with humidity.

“I’m sorry Liam, but if we can’t get in, we should really start the journey back now since it’s going to take us some time,” Zayn said clasping his hand down on his other shoulder for a second as he passed by him before diving in the water to swim back the way they came.

They swam and walked the way back to the apartment with Zayn insisting they take a detour down a different street than the one that held the grocery store they went to. They all took turns showering and changed clothes before inspecting the new food Zayn had managed to grab. They were all various kinds of soups to everyone’s joy. They ate and settled into their new normal of enjoying each other’s company for another night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry there will be Ziam again we just have to get there.

“Do you think chicken noodle or minestrone would taste better for breakfast?” Liam heard from the kitchen as he awoke to the bright sun shining in from the windows. It was a nice change after the gloominess they had encountered every day prior.

“I think I’m going to have this can of chili myself.” He heard Zayn answer. He got up and went to the kitchen to observe their unique array of breakfast choices they had to choose.

“You know I think there was a pack of granola bars in the pantry. We don’t have to live on soup every meal.” Liam said padding his way to the pantry and digging out the unopened box.

“Alright, Mr. Voice of Reason your ideas probably better.” Shea laughed snatching a bar from the box right after Liam had opened the box.

Shea currently had on a spaghetti strap cami and cotton short shorts that she must have gotten from her friends’ wardrobe. Liam couldn’t help but admire how the pajamas hugged her curves just right and how shorts showed her tan legs off well.

He and Zayn on the other hand were starting to look homeless. They both only had two sets of clothes to change into that couldn’t be washed properly without power. Liam had thought about washing them in the sink, but it seemed pointless if they were just going to get wet and dirty again the next day. They both now had noticeable scruff on their faces that Liam was itching to shave. He knew he technically could in the bathroom but doing it practically in the dark was a recipe for disaster and shaving in the kitchen seemed like a taboo thing to do in someone else’s home.

“Alright Leader, what’s on the agenda today?” Shea directed to Zayn.

“Hey, why is he the leader?”

“Because he’s the one who always seems to be barking out orders and plans so it only seems logical at this point,” Shea answered Liam as she shrugged.

“Thank you, followers, as your great leader I promise to lead us to greatness as we navigate in these hard times…. that sounded good, right? I could have totally been a politician.” Zayn said causing all of them to laugh as they sat at the kitchen table eating their granola bars.

“See you nominate the guy as the leader and it goes straight to his head.” Liam nudged Shea with his elbow.

“You two are both ridiculous, but I have to say you’ve kept me entertained during this hurricane so I’m grateful for that.”

“Well it’s the least we can do for you giving us a place to stay, even if the owner may not know about it,” Zayn added.

“Eh, she’ll get over it. I’ll buy her some groceries and a nice bottle of wine and hopefully we’ll be forgiven.” She said smiling at both of them. Liam wondered if her smile or the sun shined brighter at that moment. The thought even to him sounded cheesy but he was growing to really like this girl more and more as they spent every day and hour together. Then the thought hit Liam like a train at full speed that today was their last full day in the past. He and Liam were due to come home tomorrow. Back to the present. Back to a completely different life where Shea was probably much older living a different life, where Liam was just a distant memory. He swallowed that thought and smiled back at her.

“Today’s plan is Liam and I go out and get more footage like every day. Other than that, nothing.” Zayn said finishing off his granola bar and crumpling up the wrapper.

“Actually, I was thinking Zayn, what if I stayed here with Shea today while you get the footage. Since our footage would be virtually the same anyways and so Shea isn’t alone here.” Liam was going to fight tooth and nail to get out of this. He wanted to spend his last day here alone with Shea and far away from Zayn who he was still trying to forgive for his actions the other day.

“I mean…I guess so?” Zayn said while looking back and forth between Liam and Shea.

“I would love the company, but also don’t want to interfere with your work so this is between you two,” Shea interjected when she saw Zayn look over to her.

“I suppose you want me to go fetch your cat as well?” He asked unamused.

“If you want to since you’re already out? If not, we can all go later today. The more time we wait hopefully more the water recedes.” Liam answered.

“Good because I didn’t want to be responsible for trying to get that little guy back here without a carrier. You two can figure that one out. Since I’m done with breakfast, I guess I’ll pack up and head out then.” Zayn threw his wrapper away before grabbing his backpack and taking out his glasses from the side pocket and slipping them on his face. “If I’m not back in like three hours assume the worst and come save me.” He called as he opened the front door.

“Don’t get in a situation that needs saving,” Liam called back, and then she heard the front door shut. He turned his body back around to face Shea who was already watching him

“So just the two of us in a dark apartment for a few hours huh?” She said teasingly.

“That does appear to be the situation. Now we just have to find something to do in this dark apartment during that time.” He said teasingly back as they gravitated towards each other. The sexual tension that had been running between the two of them exploding as Shea closed the gap between them, connecting their lips into a heated kiss. Their teeth clashed together as they drank each other in memorizing the trace of each other’s lips and the feel of each other’s tongues mingling together. 

Shea stood up from her chair breaking apart the kiss before putting her forehead back to rest on his. “Bedroom?” She whispered.

Liam answered her by picking her up by the thighs and bringing her to his chest and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He carried her to the bedroom getting sidetracked a few times along the way as he pushed her up against the wall to drink in her lips once again. He opened the bedroom door with some fumbling and dropped her on the bed falling over her as he kept his feet still on the ground.

“I liked it better when you were just walking around in your boxers.” She said reaching up to pull off his t-shirt. Her hands slid down his stomach tracing the planes of his chest and stomach before reaching his sweatpants, pulling them down in one swift motion. Liam kicked his pants off to the ground and got on the bed straddling Shea in only his boxers.

“Your turn.” He whispered into her hair as he leaned over her with his hand going under the hem of her shirt and splaying out on her stomach and hips feeling the warm exposed skin. He slid the shirt up with him as he moved his hand farther up before reaching her bra and roughly cupping her breast eliciting a moan from Shea, causing Liam to smirk. He finally pushed the shirt the rest of the way up with Shea leaning up to push it over her head and throw it somewhere in the room. Liam's hands dove back to feel the smooth exposed skin as he felt Shea run her hands up in down the expanses of his chest and back as they memorized each other’s bodies, exchanging kisses in-between.

His hands slid down past her shorts feeling down her thighs and the smoothness of her legs. He brought his hand back up before going to the waistband of her shorts and looking back up to her eyes for permission. When Shea nodded yes, he yanked them and her underwear down in one motion leaving her only in her bra. From there the rest of their offending clothing was shed before they became one body connecting and moving together. The room became sweltering as their body heat radiated together causing slick skin and damp hair as they fell against each other on the mattress spent and ready to sleep the rest of the morning away together.

Liam reached down and grabbed the duvet on the bed fulling the cool cover over them as he laid his back on the bed with Shea laying on his chest. Her head tucked under his head. Liam thought this was the most comfortable and content he had ever felt in his life, right there at that moment. A piece of memory that he’ll have forever that will always remain in the past.

“I know this is bad to say, but a part of me is glad there was a hurricane. It’s what led you here and what brought us together.” Shea mumbled into his chest as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

“Well, people always say good things sprout from bad things. I think this is one of those things.”

“How long do you get to stay here for work? Please tell me it’s at least another week or two?”

Liam cringed as he looked up at the ceiling before back down at Shea. “Zayn and I have to go back tomorrow, most likely after breakfast.”

Shea sat up quickly starting down at him in disbelief. “You're leaving tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I didn’t even realize it was tomorrow until I began thinking about it this morning. All the days have blurred together and flown by I wasn’t keeping track.”

“Well you live up in Chicago, right? We can exchange numbers and email addresses and stay in touch. I would start off with the email address because my cellphone got wet when you rescued me and it hasn’t turned on since.” She said settling back down into his chest.

He felt his chest and heart constrict at the excitement that was laced in Shea’s voice. She thinking they would still be able to talk and occasionally see each other after tomorrow when Liam knew that would be impossible. Even if he gave her his email address and phone number now it wouldn’t be his for years and years to come.

“You okay? You went all quiet on me.” She looked up poking his cheek making him smile softly.

“Sorry, just tired is all. Let’s take a quick nap before Zayn gets back.” He brought the duvet up tighter around them and tightened his hold on Shea before closing his eyes.

***

Zayn tended to be a loud person when he wanted to be and today was no exception. Liam and Shea were startled awake by Zayn slamming shut the front door to the apartment and yelling something about the red cross.

Liam groaned as Shea got up and began putting on her clothes leaving Liam cold and annoyed.

“You better get up and put some pants on before Zayn waltz’s in here.” She said tossing his clothes onto the bed.

“Thankfully he has enough common sense to not waltz in here, but he will keep yelling about things until we answer him or come out so there’s no escape.” He threw his shirt on and then stood up to put his boxers and pants back on.

“Liam? Shea? You here?” They heard Zayn yell from the hallway.

“Be right out,” Shea yelled back as she stood in front of a mirror straightening out her long black curly hair with her fingers. “You think we should go out one at a time or together? Will he care?”

“I don’t think at this rate it’ll matter he probably already knows. I swear he can sense this stuff. Let’s just go out together and rip it off like a band-aid.”

“Suit yourself.” She said heading for the door before Liam grabbed her and spun her around stealing one more kiss from her before letting her go.

They walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to find Zayn digging opening up a can of soup to make lunch.

“Ah, there you two are,” Zayn said shortly. He took one look at them and Zayn could see the disappointment in his eyes, especially when his gaze fell on Liam for a beat too long. “Do anything fun while I was gone?” Liam could hear the underlying anger in his tone, but to Shea, it probably sounded like teasing.

“I don’t know about fun, Liam and I were just doing some cleaning and organizing for my friend for when she gets back.” Shea lied through her teeth as she took a seat at the island across from Zayn. Zayn was dumping his soup into a pan on the stove, the flame dancing in the dark of the naturally lit kitchen.

“Oh, that was very kind of both of you. I hope you got a lot done.” He said looking past Shea and straight to Liam. “I’m sure Liam was a big help.” 

Liam took a step forward schooling his expression. “Have something to say Zayn?”

“Nope.” He shook his head placing both hands on the countertop before bring his head back up smiling. “Just making some lunch before we venture out to get your cat.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to get to him today?” Shea asked.

“Should be able to, any farther down and I would say no. The red cross has arrived. They’ve set up temporary shelters and are distributing food and water. They also have lifeboats for people who need saving. Talked to one of the guys for a few minutes, nice people.” He said nonchalantly. Liam wasn’t comfortable with how relaxed Zayn was acting. He knew this was going to blow up in his face later. “Have you guys eaten lunch yet, or have you been too caught up in cleaning?”

“Umm…No, some lunch sounds good.” He said awkwardly as he went to pull a can of soup from the pantry. He felt Shea behind him and quickly stepped away from her towards the stove. Both Shea and Zayn turned to look at him funny and he just turned to quickly fumble for a pan.

He felt his anxiety racing as he felt the need to run away from the current situation, he was in. The urge to be alone coursing through his body as he felt cornered and trapped in the kitchen.

“I’m gonna get some air.” He blurted out before quickly walking past Zayn and Shea as they stared after him. He went out onto the balcony since it was the closest door. Shutting it secure behind him he went to the railing in took deep breathes as he rested his elbows on the railing. His hands were together as he rested his head on them with his eye’s clothes. He took a minute to focus on the sounds below him as a city tried to fix itself after a disaster. He felt the wind blow giving a nice breeze on a hot and humid day. He heard the chirping of birds somewhere up above and music blaring from another apartment. All of these sounds helped ground him in the present as he drank them in.

No one came out onto the balcony to get him or try to talk to him and he appreciated it. He knew he eventually had to go back in there and relatively soon, but time to think and reflect was a welcomed break from reality.

He took one more deep breath before opening his eyes and adjusting to the light. He rolled his shoulders before turning around and going back inside.

“Hey, that was good timing. Your soup is ready.” Shea said as she poured the soup into a bowl and placed it on the island with a spoon.

He smiled appreciatively at her. “Thanks.” He said grabbing the bowl and taking a seat at the kitchen table.

“Alright, you two eat and then we leave to get the cat, and then I’m calling it a day,” Zayn spoke as he finished up eating his bowl of soup.

When they were all done Liam and She put on their shoes and they all ventured back outside. They walked on the sidewalks as many cars had been moved now and other cars were starting to use the roadways again where they could. The walk back to the hotel was filled with awkward silence as they walked next to each other.

When they got to the hotel Liam ran in and over to the elevator quickly pushing the up bottom repeatedly. They must have had a backup generator. He was so worried about what he would find when he got up to his room. The door to the elevator opened and he felt Shea and Zayn catch up as they all got in. The ride felt torturously slow as the floors ticked by on the screen. When the doors finally opened, he ran out and down the hall as he fished his room key out of his wallet. He inserted it into the slot and opened the door. Immediately Dreamscicle came running over to him crying.

“Hey buddy, it’s okay were back. You’re okay.” He picked up the crying cat and held him to his chest as he walked into the room immediately seeing an empty food and water bowl and a very dirty litter box. He turned around to see Shea grab the bag of food and fill back up his bowl causing Dreamscicle to jump out of Liam’s arms. While Shea went to get him more water, Liam dumped out the litter in his litter box and replaced it with fresh litter.

“Glad to see the little guys okay,” Zayn said standing by the door. “Since you guys are taking care of him, I’m going to run down to my room and shower and change into clean clothes.”

“Sure, why don’t you just come back up here when you’re done. I guess we’ll be staying here tonight then?” Liam asked, though he already knew what the answer would be.

“Yeah, we need to stay here tonight. Shea, we can walk you back to your friends so you don’t have to go back alone.”

“Oh, you guys don’t have to do that.” She said nonchalantly.

“No, but we are just to ensure you get there safely,” Liam said smiling at her.

“Right, I’ll be quick then we can go.” He said as he was already heading out the door.

“I don’t want to impose, but I could stay the night here if you wanted to spend our last night together.” She said hopefully as she sat next to the cat petting him as he ate and drank.

“You have no idea how much I want that, but I can’t I’m sorry. It’ll be better if we say our goodbyes today.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared down at the site of Shea and Dreamscicle in front of them. He felt his chest constrict again at not seeing them ever again. Time travel was harder the longer you stayed. “I’m also going to need you to take Dreamscicle if you can. I can’t bring him back with me, Zayn won’t allow it.”

Shea looked up at him sadly before looking back at the orange and white cat fondly. “Yeah I’ll take him. I’ll have to figure something out eventually with my apartment, but if the water damage is bad enough anyway, I’ll probably be moving.”

“He pretty much already adopted you anyway so it’s only fair you adopt him back.”

“Damn you make a good point.” They both laugh and get Dreamsicle’s things packed up.

Zayn arrives not long after only gone about ten minutes in all. Liam was sure he was probably doing everything as quickly as possible so he and Shea weren’t alone too long this time. Liam wrapped Dreamscicle up in a jacket and put it to his chest to carry him, hoping it would prevent him from jumping out.

Thankfully their journey back was successful. Dreamscicle didn’t fuss too much and as they had gotten used to the walk it didn’t seem as far this time. He thought it could also be he was dreading it to be over which is why time sped upon him. Liam and Zayn helped Shea get Dreamscicles things all set up and grabbed any items they had left at the apartment. Then it was time to officially say goodbye. Something he knew he wouldn’t be good at and didn’t want to do in the first place.

“Well Shea, thank you very much for letting Liam and I stay here, we really appreciate it.” Zayn went first as Liam tried to gather his words and thoughts. Once Liam stepped away and closer towards the door Liam stepped up to her. He smiled sadly and she smiled sadly back.

“I wish we had more time together. I’m thankful for this week with you though. I truly hope the best for you and your city after this devastating hurricane and I hope Dreamscicle keeps you company.

“Thank you for saving him and thank you for saving me. Neither of us would be here right now if it wasn’t for you.” She pulled him into a tight hug breathing in each other scent one last time before slowly separating. “Oh, and here,” she reached in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper “this is my cell phone number and my email address. Let’s stay in touch.” She said smiling brighter.

Liam took the slip of paper and put it in his pocket and tried to fake a smile to mask the sadness he felt for Shea never being contacted by him. He knew she would move on though. She would probably be a little hurt in the beginning or maybe even angry, but then another guy will come along and sweep her off her feet and he’ll be a distant memory in the past when rally he’ll be far in the future.

“Alright well we should really be going, Liam,” Zayn said inching closer to the front door.

“Hang on, I just have to say goodbye to Dreamscicle.” He said I he went over to the cat lounging on the carpet by the door where the sun was coming in. He knelt down and pet the cat and scratched behind his ears as he whispered his goodbyes to him. He stood back up and finally joined Zayn over by the front door.

“You two be careful going home. Are you sure you're able to get on the interstate you need to?”

“We may have to take a few detours, but we’ll find our way back,” Liam responded.

“Thanks again, Shea,” Zayn said giving a small wave before opening the front door and heading out. Liam began following behind. Shea yelled goodbye again and then closed the door behind them. He sighed sadly but kept following Liam out of the building and back onto the sidewalk.

They began their final journey back to the hotel. They had checked out before they left. Now they just had to get back to the time machine and examine to make sure it ran properly.

“Can time machines get water damage?” He asked Zayn as they were walking back. The first either had said to each other.

“I don’t know. The people at the lab are geniuses surely, they would make it waterproof, especially if they’re going to send us to a hurricane.” Zayn answered and then it went back to silence.

Liam wasn’t sure what the ride home had in store. If he’d get chewed out by Zayn or the cold shoulder. Neither sounded particularly great though he figured knowing Zayn he’d be mad about it for a few days and then get over it. That is unless he really did fuck up the timeline and bad. Then he might not be so easy to forgive. He decided to table that thought until it actually became a reality and focus on the present, something he didn’t feel like he had been doing much.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here's the last chapter of them in the past so this will probably be the last update for a little while. I'm currently working on Chapter 13 but I need to double-check some stuff before posting the second half of the book. Please let me know what you think of this part though! Hopefully, this clears a few things up from the last book.

_2060_

They turned a corner and could finally see the time machine in their site. They walked a little fast over to it still parked on the street. They both circled around it checking for any obvious damage first. When they couldn’t find any, they both got in with Liam in the driver’s seat. 

“Please work,” Zayn whispered to the time machine as Liam started it up. The engine roared to life and they both sighed in relief. He put it in drive and pulled on to the road. “Alright, 2060 here we come.”

“Actually, I’m sorry we just have to make a pit stop.” He said as they accelerated pushing them into the future. They traveled for thirty seconds before landing back on the road.

“What the fuck! Why are we still in New Orleans and what year is it?” Zayn yelled.

“Calm down. We’re only six months ahead. I just wanted to see how the city and Shea were.”

“You think showing up out of nowhere six months later isn’t going to confuse the fuck out of her, especially when we’ll have to turn around and leave again? We don’t even know if she lives at the same place anymore this is wasting time Liam!” Zayn was getting angrier and louder the longer he talked and yelled at Liam as he continued to drive towards Shea’s apartment. He pulled off the road a little down the street from the apartment and turned to Zayn to tell him to calm down when he felt his mouth go dry.

“Oh my god,” Liam said as his mouth hung open. Zayn was still ranting on at Liam until he finally stopped and followed his line of sight until he saw it too and gasped.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Zayn said through gritted teeth. They're a little way up by the entrance of the apartment building was a pregnant Shea caressing her bump as she spoke with someone on the sidewalk.

“Please, please tell me that’s not yours.” He said turning back to Liam.

“I don’t know…but she looks probably about six months. Oh my god, I’m going to have to have a kid I’ll never know.

“We need to leave before she sees us. We’ll talk about this on the way back. Here let me drive.” Zayn said making Liam switch places with him. They did it quickly and made sure Shea didn’t see them. Liam moved on auto-pilot as Zayn barked out orders at him. Zayn pulled back on the road and set their course for home throwing them into the swirl of colors Liam would normally appreciate if he wasn’t having a breakdown.

They drove in silence a few minutes before Zayn switched it to autopilot and turned to Liam.

“Do you have any idea what your actions have done? I swear I’m going to turn you in for this Liam. You didn’t listen to me this entire mission as you continued to break rule after rule. I get it some rules are meant to be broken but these aren’t those rules. These rules are what’s keeping us safe and the past and future safe from major alterations to the timeline. What the fuck do you plan to do if we get back to the lab and nothings the same as when we left. A completely different life from what we originally lived, then what?”

He looked to Liam expecting an answer that he didn’t have to offer. Liam didn’t say anything and Zayn stopped talking to him altogether after that, both of them caught up in their thoughts.

All Liam could think about was Shea rubbing her pregnant belly. How she probably hoped and prayed he would have called, texted, or emailed her by now and she could have told him the news. She would be a single mother now unless a new man came into the picture, to help raise his child. Someone else would be the child’s dad and Liam just a guy in a story Shea would tell if the kid ever asked or if Shea decided to tell them. They didn’t even a photograph of him. They wouldn’t know what he looked like and Shea would have no way of finding one of him, let alone physically finding him on Earth at that time.

Time passed by and they were nearing the lab almost there. Zayn would have to take over driving again soon.

“For what it’s worth I’m sorry.” Liam turned to Zayn who was looking out the window on his side. He was Zayn slowly turn his head around to look at him with a stoic expression on his face.

“It’s too late for sorry Liam. You knew every rule you broke and the consequences of all of them and how you weren’t just jeopardizing yourself but other people. You still did it anyways all because of one girl you couldn’t just leave alone. I always thought you were so selfless and kind, but I saw a different side of you this mission.”

“Did it ever occur to you that I did this because I was trying to process my feeling and get over you? I know you don’t want a relationship with me. I’m just your side toy while you pretend to be straight but I fell for you anyways like a fool.” 

Zayn didn’t respond as switched back to manual and drove the time machine for the very end. The light got bright at the end of the tunnel before they emerged into the lab coming quickly to a stop. Zayn turned off the machine and got out as Liam unbuckled himself and opened his door. When he stepped out, he was met with Zayn in his face grabbing a fistful of his shirt to hold onto as he began punch Liam in the face over and over again. In a flash people from the lab were pulling them apart. They were holding Liam back as he tried to break free to get to Liam again.

Liam held his hands up to his bleeding face as he felt hot blood gush out of his nose that he assumed was broken. He was pretty sure his lip was split as well mixing with the blood from his nose to create a waterfall down his chin and onto his shirt and the floor. He felt someone bring him over to a chair and another hand him a towel and then an ice pack. He heard several people ask him if he was okay but he didn’t respond. He just kept his head down and his eyes close as he tried to collect himself.

“Liam are you okay?” He lifted his head to the familiar voice to see his father leaning over him and resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He nodded his head at this fathers’ questions before finally taking a minute to look around and make sure everything was how he remembered it. Everything seemed to be the same. Nothing unraveled by the timeline at least from appearance. He would need to get on the internet and make sure major events or political figures hadn’t changed but this was a good start.

“Here’s your phone son. I know how antsy you are to have it back after a mission.” His dad said taking the phone out of his lab coat pocket and handing it over to him. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about whatever just happened between you and Zayn right now because I know how you are. But just so you know, you can always come to me if you need someone to talk to. Your also more than welcome to stay at my house if you want to be away from your mom and sister. Just let me know.” He said patting his shoulder before going back over to the time machine to do work.

He was thankful his dad was a person who liked space and knew when to give other people space. He needed that right now.

“Liam can I please see you in my office.” He heard Administrator Bray yell from across the lab. He let out a sound of annoyance only he could hear before collecting himself and standing up. He made his way across the main floor of the lab to the main wall of offices where the Administrator and the people under him worked during the day. 

He made his way to the biggest office that was on the second floor and overlooked the lab. As he was walking their Zayn came out of the Administrators office. The minute he laid eyes on Liam he glared at him. Their eyes met as they passed each other with Zayn continuing to give him the coldest glare he had ever seen on him. There may be no repairing that relationship he thought to himself as he reached the door to the office. He knocked on the door before hearing a “come in” from the other side and going in.

The Administrator was sitting at his desk that had multiple large tablet screens around it.

“Liam please have a seat.” He said not looking up as he typed on the touch screen tablet that was the size of a small TV. He finished up typing on the screen before finally looking up at him with disappointment in his eyes. “Zayn just came to see me after of course he was pulled off of fighting you. He told me all about your Hurricane Katrina mission.”

“What exactly did he tell you?” Liam asked scared out of his mind. This was it he was definitely getting fired.

"How you continuously did things to change the timeline and how you slept with a woman and got her pregnant. Is this true?” He asked folding his hands on his desk while never breaking eye contact with Liam.

“Yes, sir it is, and I’m incredibly sorry for my actions and any turmoil it has caused for the timeline. Am I fired? He asked just wanting to confirm his suspicion and go home.

“Actually no, I had thought about firing you, and then I realized you’re an asset to me and I have a very special new mission for you to go on.”


End file.
